National Space Academy works with Science Centres to share STFC science

The National Space Centre hosted the first of two days of training for staff from ten different science centres as part of the Explore Your Universe project.  Explore Your Universe is being run by the Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and aims to engage school and family audiences with STFC science through activities and workshops.

Representatives from the participating centres will be trained by the Explore Your Universe project team, including the National Space Academy's own Education Officer Sophie Allen.  The project involves various equipment and experiments relating to STFC's research in everything from astronomy to particle physics.  Sophie and her colleagues, including Naomi Wyles from Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and members of the National Space Centre Education Team, have put together hands on activities and demonstrations that portray the various problems STFC funded research is tackling.

During an exciting and energetic first day of training the science centre delegates have used solar telescopes in perfectly timed sunshine, looked at simple experiments with plasma balls, operated a "salad bowl synchotron" and built their own particle detecting cloud chambers.

Tomorrow's training will include meteorites and solar system models as well as how to put the content together for family and school shows relating to the science curriculum.

The ten science centres taking part in Explore Your Universe are: At-Bristol, Catalyst, Dundee Science Centre, Glasgow Science Centre, Intech, Observatory Science Centre, Our Dynamic Earth, Royal Museums Greenwich, Satrosphere and Science Oxford.