One of our Charity’s goals is to create opportunities for all children to experience the wonder of science. We often do this through outreach activities in schools and communities. Sometimes we are also invited to deliver workshops at public events run by other organisations. Here’s what happened when the Curiosity team from Winchester Science Centre and our Equity, Community Engagement and Outreach (ECO) team joined forces for a family open day at The Point, Eastleigh.
On Saturday, 7th September, children aged seven to eleven joined Head of Curiosity, Nikhil, and ECO Inspirer Jordan to become nature detectives. In the beautiful outdoor space of The Point, families could use our microscopes to investigate a variety of samples to get up close and personal with the natural and built world. Samples included an electrical circuit, felt, soil, and feathers. Children were also able to explor the surrounding area for other natural objects to inspect from ferns to flowers to stones. Jordan even managed to find a caterpillar!
Some families had a go at being Weather Watchers. This activity is often used in our outreach programme as it’s a great way for children to understand how satellites see our world from above. Working as a team, the challenge was to guess what weather events were happening in a set of pictures. The selection of images included a tsunami, a drought, and a volcanic eruption.
The team were also able to talk to some of the children one on one. This meant the children could talk about the science that interests them in more detail. Some children already had an interest in science from their learning at school. One child wowed us with his knowledge of microscopes!
Mikey aged nine, said: “I think the microscopes are fun. My favourite thing to look at under the microscope is sand because it looks like glass.”
Nikhil Mistry, our Head of Curiosity said: “The Open Day at The Point was a great opportunity to talk to children and adults about the built and natural word around us. I really enjoyed exploring the park for plants, insects, and other pieces to look at under our visualiser (a big microscope connected to a TV). It always surprises me how children can find a new way to look at something, the patterns they find, and which features are most interesting to them. Being able to share and observe their perspective on the big and small is always insightful. It also gives me food for thought on new ways we can engage with children using science communication and how to make learning fun and relatable to them.”
