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Discover Science Centres Visit
Discover Science Centres Visit: Kippure Estate, Co. Wicklow
In our latest video children from St Brigid’s N.S., Manor Kilbride visit Kippure Estate for a DPSM workshop.
Watch as the children get stuck into a Pirates workshop with activities from shelter building, hunting for teasure and tackling the climbing wall, to launching bottle rockets. The children use their science and maths skills to explore Kippure Estate through an action packed programme that proved a real hit with the children.
To find out more visit http://www.kippure.com/
Discover Science Centres News
Interested in joining the Discover Centres Network?
DPSM are inviting expressions of interest from organisations interested in applying to join the network of Discover Centres around the country that offer workshops to primary schools interested in engaging in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) outside of the classroom. For more details on how to register your interest click here.
Discover Centres News Round-up
Below you'll find the latest news from our Discover Centres. You can also sign up directly with your local centres for regular updates by visiting their page on the DPSM website.
Click on a province below to find out what's going on near you.
MUNSTER
Ballyhoura Outdoor Classroom, Limerick
Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork
CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory is home to the Comet Chaser, a unique interactive cinema game that highlights ESA’s Rosetta Mission. Can you control Philae and land on a comet? The Comet Chaser is included in all visits. Follow the amazing science from Rosetta all of this year as the mission continues.
New for 2015: Visit our giant comet in the courtyard! Our comet is accurately modelled from the real Comet 67P, but scaled down so it fits in the castle courtyard. It’s still bigger than most people.
Comets are the star of one of our DPSM workshops: Comets at the Castle. Updated to reflect the new discoveries in comet science, students get to test and explore comets, even making one of their own!
http://www.sciencespace.ie hosts our classroom and preparatory activities. Here you will find the Rosetta timeline, a classroom activity. Can you think what you’ve been doing for the last ten years?
Engineers Week at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory
5th and 6th class students can explore the Electronics in Space with our Engineers Week Workshops, full details here. Create electric circuits with solar panels and sensors as we look at the engineering challenges in operating a spacecraft far from the Sun. Find out all about the European Space Agency’s Rosetta Mission while playing the Comet Chaser game and visit our giant size model of Comet 67P.
Contact
Email: info@bco.ie
Phone: 021 435 7917
Web: http://www.bco.ie
Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium, Kerry
Come and see what Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium in Co Kerry can offer your school! Our DPSM education programmes offers an interactive curriculum with tours and experiments to get students observing, doing and thinking - focusing on the impact the marine world has upon us, and how we affect it.
With a range of hands on activities available from creating global warming balloon explosions, squid dissections and making slime! We can also tailor visits to fit your curriculum needs.
Contact
Email: marabeo@iol.ie
Phone: 066 915 2111
Web: http://www.dingle-oceanworld.ie/school_tours.html
Lifetimelab, Cork
VEX IQ Grand Finale, Friday, 6th February
The EMC/Lifetime Lab VEX IQ Junior Robotics finale will take place on Friday February 6th at the CIT Nexus Centre with over 500 primary school children from 18 primary schools set to take part. The programme seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by engaging primary level students in robotics engineering projects that are hands-on, with support materials and resources, supported though sustained involvement from industry mentors. See http://www.lifetimelab.ie for more information.
Engineers Week @ Lifetime Lab
MathsWorks Mobile, Learn it LEGO Workshops, Cork BT Young Scientist and Meet the Engineers Family Open Day are some of the STEM engagement activities planned for Engineers Week @ Lifetime Lab see http://www.lifetimelab.ie for a full list of events.
Explorers Marine Science returns to Lifetime Lab in March
Collaboration between Lifetime Lab, the Marine Institute and Galway Atlantaquaria sees the return of “Explorers” primary marine science workshop to Lifetime Lab in March. The Explorers Education Programme aims to integrate marine themes as closely as possible with existing strands of the primary SESE curriculum and is available at Lifetime Lab from Monday March 2nd to Friday March 13th.
For further information on any of the Lifetime Lab STEM programmes contact Mervyn or Rebecca at lifetimelab@corkcity.ie or Tel 021 494 1500
Lough Gur, Limerick
The inaugural meeting of the Lough Gur Science Group took place on December 8th in the Great Grange Stone Circle. As the largest stone circle in Ireland it a megalithic site of magnificence that is not very well known or appreciated. A full survey of the Circle was carried out by Dr. Frank Prendergast, DIT in May 2014 that sparked great interest in the area and led to Lough Gur’s recent accreditation as a Discover Primary, Maths and Science Centre through Science Foundation Ireland.
Rising to the growing Science related interest by visitors of all ages, Kate Harrold, Manager for Lough Gur Development invited Dr. Norah Patten – University of Limerick Communications & Outreach Manager, Paul Ryan from Share Learn Inspire, Dr. Vincent Casey Senior - Lecturer in Physics at UL and Frank Ryan from the Shannonside Astronomy Club to develop a fully engaging set of events and science related projects.
Outdoor tours dealing with history, archaeology and folklore are already on offer from the lake front heritage centre in Lough Gur. To add to the portfolio of events and programmes the Science Advisory Group plan to increase and combine the history, archaeology and folklore focus with Astronomy, Earth, Environmental and Geophysical Science.
For further information go to http://www.loughgur.com or phone 061 385186.
Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre, Kerry
This spring, Tralee Bay Wetlands will be running classes around the theme of this year’s World Wetlands Day – Wetlands for Our Future. Students will learn about how the world’s wetlands are vital to the future health of the planet, and what concrete actions they can take in their own locale to help stop the alarming loss of this precious habitat.
For bookings and further information on this or any of the centre’s activities and events visit http://www.traleebaywetlands.org, contact David at education@traleebaywetlands.org or call the centre on 066 7126700.
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LEINSTER
Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre, Longford
Winter Woods with Creative Ardagh
We were busy in Creative Ardagh in November and December as we created a mini woodland inside in case the weather did not co-operate for our DPSM Woodland Creations workshops. We did manage to get outside to explore on a few occasions too.
You might think that there’s not a lot to see in the woods in winter, but our budding scientists discovered that you can figure out which tree is which even when they have no leaves left, for example we found that Horse Chestnut trees have big sticky buds and large semi-circular leaf scars. We also discovered the remains of many beech nuts and even evidence of a birds nest in one of our bat houses.
We based our Christmas event on the woods this year and many families also got to enjoy stories of hedgehogs who didn’t hibernate and mice who decorated Christmas trees before visiting Santa and creating wonderful art works with things found in the woods.
We are continuing to focus on the winter woods for DPSM Woodland Creations workshop throughout January and February, when we hopefully will start to see some signs of Spring. We also provide a workshop in Exploring Colour. Full details on http://www.creativeardagh.com.
Bog of Allen Nature Centre, Kildare
Bog of Allen Nature Centre Supporting Young Scientists
The Bog of Allen Nature Centre in Co. Kildare works with many schools throughout the year offering them an opportunity to explore natural sciences in a safe and fun outdoor environment. Many items have been found buried in Irish bogs from butter to the Great Irish Elk.
Recently the centre worked with students from Newtown N.S., Co. Meath who had decided to do a fair test investigation on the preservation properties of peat compared to garden soil as their entry for the Intel Young Scientist. Following the steps of a fair test investigation the students planned their investigation to ensure a fair test and identified equipment needed. The students buried to the same depth four items in both garden soil and a peat bog, an orange, a piece of cardboard, a coin and a tea bag . After three weeks the students were delighted to discover that those items buried within the bog although now wet were in better condition than those that were buried in the garden soil complimenting what they had learnt through their exploration stage of their investigation.
Learn more about bogs by visiting http://www.ipcc.ie or contact us today on 045-860133 to arrange for your students to visit the centre or for an expert to come to your school in 2015.
Clara Bog Visitor Centre, Offaly
Science Week 2014 at Clara Bog Visitor Centre
Michelle Mckeon Bennett spoke about her research into the uses of bog mosses in space as part of Science Week. By accident Michelle discovered that Sphagnum moss had amazing regenerative properties after she came across a forgotten jar of moss in her shed. It was still growing despite being in a dark and air tight container for over a year. She contacted NASA and eventually secured a space on the International Space Station for testing Sphagnum moss as a growth medium for producing food for astronauts such as: lettuce, rice and tomatoes. So far the results are very positive.
Michelle credits her father for fostering a lifelong interest in Clara Bog and she advocates its conservation for what we can learn from the bog to improve our lives, particularly in relation to health and nutrition.
For more information on Michelle’s work log on to http://www.cells.ie.
Global Action Plan (GAP), Dublin
Global Action Plan (GAP) Ireland are delighted to offer a new outdoor Garden Biodiversity workshop for primary schools, based in our local community garden in Ballymun.
Our expert facilitators will guide children through a range of age-appropriate, engaging games and activities that will introduce children to the wonderful biodiversity in the garden. This curriculum-linked experiential workshop will provide a fun, hands-on introduction to biodiversity in the garden, with an emphasis on exploration, questioning and discovery, in line with the national primary school SESE curriculum.
During the workshop, students will be given a guided tour of the garden interspersed with plant identification games and mathematics activities that will reinforce content and scientific enquiry. Students will also get to participate in some hands on planting, and will learn about the importance of invertebrates and how to identify them and then set about on an enquiry-based bug hunt!
The workshop is 2 hours long, suitable for 2nd – 5th class students and runs from April – October.
For more information, or to make a booking, please contact GAP's Education Officer, Dr. Sophie Nicol, at sophie@globalactionplan.ie or phone 01 891 6798.
Imaginosity, Dublin
Imaginosity presents a week of science creativity for primary schools as part of Engineers Week 2015 with a series of exciting, engaging and lively workshops designed for children aged 4-8 years. The aim of the workshops is to engage children in “hands-on” real world engineering and maths.
The workshops have been designed to complement the National Curriculum in Science for Primary Schools.
Children will gain valuable skills in working scientifically, designing and making, enabling exploration of energy and forces as well as materials. The workshops are 45 minutes to 1 hour long and are a mixture of demonstration and active participation. Below is a brief outline of the workshops.
Workshop 1: Box Monsters - Suitable for all ages - 45 mins to 1 hr
Due to popular demand Box Monsters return for another year of engineering fun. Children will explore the basic principles of pneumatics as they create and design their own Box Monsters.
Workshop 2: Air Cannon Chaos - Suitable for 1st and 2nd class only - 45 mins to 1 hr
Children will be introduced to the power of air through a series of hands on demonstrations and experiments. They will then construct and test their own miniature air cannons.
Workshop 3: Imagination Playground - Junior and Senior Infants - 45 mins
Children will learn about basic engineering principles and will then unleash the power of their imaginations as they build, create and test using our innovative big block building system.
See http://www.imaginosity.ie for details about prices and how to book.
Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park, Co. Kildare
Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park, in association with Bord na Móna, had their new Peatlands exhibition and Biodiversity Boardwalk launched by Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton T.D.. The Peatlands Exhibition and Biodiversity Boardwalk, a first of its kind in Ireland, tells the story of the Irish midlands raised bogs and the rural communities living beside them. Visitors will have an opportunity to discover how peatlands form, the flora and fauna living on them, past uses, future possibilities for the Peatlands and even the gruesome secrets of bog bodies.
Speaking at the official opening, Mr. Ray Stapleton, Manager, Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park, said “The new boardwalk and exhibition will provide an improved experience for all visitors. We hope the significant development that we are here to launch today will support the future economic growth of the entire County and will prove to be a unique and significant attraction for local, national and international visitors. The Park is now truly the “Gateway to the Peatlands” for tourists travelling from Dublin. Lullymore is a rural community intrinsically linked to the Peatlands. We believe that tourism will help form a sustainable future for both the community and our natural environment.”
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CONNACHT
Brigit's Garden, Galway
A visit to Brigit’s Garden is a feast for the senses with engaging, discovery-based learning programmes related to the SESE curriculum. With Celtic gardens, lake, meadow and woodland it is the ideal place to learn and to inspire curiosity about the natural environment and Irish heritage. Through hands-on investigations and activities children learn about seasons; mini-beasts; trees; rocks, soils & fossils and habitats; and celebrate seasonal festivals with an interactive musical parade. The all-weather, 3 hour programmes are just €9.50 per child.
Brigit’s Garden also provides free ‘Schools Energy Workshops’ for children and CPD ‘Exploring our Energy’ workshops for teachers in association with SEAI.
New for 2015! Renewable energy programmes for 3rd – 6th class and Transition Year students. More details to follow after pilot programmes in spring.
To book the spring programme, ‘Discover Spring & Seed-sowing’ and for all further enquiries about any of the programmes offered contact 091 550905 or see http://www.brigitsgarden.ie
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