News
Tuesday 5 April 2005
Science Festival heads for Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Campus, April 6-8
More than 2,000 primary school pupils will descend on Nottingham Trent University this week for a three-day science and technology extravaganza. Youngsters from across the East Midlands will be involved in a huge variety of hands-on experiments and interactive demonstrations as part of the Sci-Tec Festival of Science.
Activities will include working with a rocket scientist to design, build and launch a propelled rocket; programming and making a robotic arm; extracting DNA from fruits and vegetables; and digging up dinosaur bones and cleaning up 80 million-year-old fossils.
Pupils will come face-to-face with unusual animals such as Poison Dart Frogs, Bird Eating Tarantulas, a Boa Constrictor and Orange-Winged Parrot. They will also see crazy chemical changes with magical tabletop science and have their imaginations tested with optical illusions and magic tricks.
The event will feature two shows, Flash, Bang, Wallop and The Really GROSS Show. Flash, Bang, Wallop is a unique sound and light show where youngsters can look at how light travels, bend light, convert light into energy and see how shadows are formed. They can also explore how sounds are made and how sound travels. The Really GROSS Show takes a close look at liquids, solids and gases that come out of our bodies.
Dr Avtar Matharu, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Nottingham Trent University, said: “The festival is intended to show youngsters how much fun science can be and how important it is in their everyday lives. Not only do they get to see exciting experiments up close, but they get to take part, too.
He added: “Science is very important to Nottingham as it becomes the next generation Science City. This event will encourage our scientists of the future. Sponsors Boots Healthcare International and SETPOINT Nottinghamshire share our vision of the importance of science to the future wealth of the region.”
Peter Burnett, Manager of SETPOINT Nottinghamshire, said: “The Sci-Tec festival is SETPOINT Nottinghamshire’s premier event for primary schools in Nottinghamshire. As part of SETNET, we aim to help ensure there is a flow of well-motivated, high quality people going from schools into science, technology, engineering and maths careers and prepare young people for the technological world they live in. This is all made possible through the Sci Tec festival which offers primary school pupils an unprecedented level of access to hands-on science and technology experiments and developments.”
ENDS
Notes for editors: Sci-Tec, a charity funded by a range of organisations, is bringing its own team of experts along for the event. Over a ten-year period Sci-Tec has inspired upwards of 100,000 pupils and visitors through fun hands-on activities at their numerous festivals throughout the region.
SETPOINT Nottinghamshire is hosted by the Nottinghamshire Education Business Alliance.
The festival takes place from 9.30am to 3pm Wednesday to Friday.
For more information please contact:
Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on Tel: 0115 848 2650 or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk
Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on Tel: 0115 848 6589 or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk
