On the 20th March families from all across Derbyshire enjoyed visiting Derby City Library for the city’s annual Science and Technology event. Throughout the day over 2,000 people enjoyed lots of activities including the opportunity to hold snakes, stroke meerkats and smell skunks. 

Visitors were able to fire 100mph air rockets down the aisles of bookshelves. They also got to experience the joys of making slime at the Energy MC2 wacky chemistry stand, watch the secret life of a water fly under a microscope and blow a raspberry. Some watched themselves in slow motion with the aid of a 30,000 frames per second video camera. Others entered a gruelling library-maths quiz to try and win a portable DVD player. Many tried to match up different animal skulls from around the world and discover the wonders of the universe with a gigantic Star Dome. 

Special thanks to Derby City Library, The University of Derby, The National Space Centre, Tropical Inc., the Derbyshire Education and Business Partnership (DEBP) STEM team, Hands on Science, Rob Farr (the Energy MC2) and Dr. Chris Robbins who all helped organise and run the event.  

Guest Blogger: George Peck (Yr7) @ Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth, Derbyshire

 

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery recently hosted their first family construction day, with the support of Derbyshire Education Business Partnership (DEBP), and attracted over 500 people from across Derbyshire. The event coincided with National Science and Engineering Week 2010 - and also formed part of a new bridges exhibition that will open in April. It allowed children of all ages to explore and create their own models using the range of construction activities provided by the museum and DEBP.  

While the overall theme was based upon bridges, the children had great fun making a wide variety of models and toys from a range of popular construction systems.  Some made intricately complex structures from paper, and others built large suspension bridges and giant tetrahedrons from canes and rubber bands.   Ed Byrne, one of Derbyshire’s STEM Ambassadors also provided expert advice on the day about what it is like to have a career in the STEM industry. Dr Bill Longshaw, who runs the Enlightenment! programme, said, "Today's event has been a great success for us. Enlightenment! is all about inspirational inventions in Derbyshire in the 18th and 19th Century - hence our bridges exhibition in April. It is good to see the spirit of enquiry alive and well in the county today!”   

Lawrie Peck, DEBP Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) manager said “This has been a fantastic opportunity for families to explore some of the basic concepts of the STEM subjects in a fun and relevant way.  We work with many of Derbyshire’s schools to help inspire an interest in these subjects from an early age and events like these are key to getting families involved.”

Guest blogger: Derbyshire Education Business Partnership

 

The Derbyshire Education Business Partnership’s STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – team, together with staff from Kniveton CE Primary School, have been on a trip of a lifetime to offer some much needed educational support to the Janet International School in Gambia. 

Mangrove swamps, dusty dirt tracks, oyster farms, blistering heat and the sound of baboons, awaited the team who spent a week over the February half term sharing a programme of work with students and teachers in the underprivileged area of Bakoteh. The programme focused on local environments and incorporated work on climate change, the carbon footprint and sustainable energy. The team settled in straight away after a warm welcome and were able to deliver a series of fun and engaging activities - including K’Nex solar panels, LEGO NXT robotic cars, wind turbines and solar ovens – to the beaming students, who had never in their life seen such technology. 

STEM manager, Lawrie Peck said, “It was an incredible privilege to be part of this project – to see the students growing in confidence as they embraced the new ideas, particularly in a region so in need of cost-cutting sustainable energy technology like these. It just demonstrates what an important role science, technology, engineering and maths can play in our world, and how important it is to build this into education from a young age.” 

Guest Blogger: Lawrie Peck, Derbyshire Education Business Partnership