SCIENCE YEAR NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 37 Week ending Friday, 5th October 2001 Is it really a week since the last newsletter? Yes it is ... and this time the news headlines are: more good news for teachers, art and science onside together... and this month's officially funniest joke. FREE TEACHER TRAINING Last week we announced the distribution of the first part of the Science Year Kit-Pot, the Intel QX3 Digital microscopes. This week, it's free online teacher training, courtesy of another Friend of Science Year, Oracle. Oracle is committed to lifelong learning though online technology, as demonstrated by one of its most highly developed achievements, its Think.com project. If you haven't heard of it before, the Think.com project was launched in 1998 and is a free (yes, free!) online educational resource that allows schoolchildren and teachers to create protected online learning communities to enhance the classroom learning experience using the Internet. In many respects, the use of Think.com is only limited by your imagination; existing users are doing some amazing things - via the 'hotseat' facility, children have interviewed an array of people, from TV presenter Anna Walker, to fire fighters, actors and even a Concorde pilot. Some schools are using Think.com to share projects or collaborate online; working with an organisation called WebPlay, one London school recently teamed up with a school in America to write and perform a play online. With over 500 schools now registered the scheme aims to bridge the 'digital divide' and provide opportunities to children across the UK and USA. What Oracle is offering is free training to teachers interested in utilising the resource in their classrooms. For more information on how the resource has been used by schools to date and how to apply for the scheme, have a look at: www.think.com SCIENCE YEAR CD-Roms As mentioned before, the first free teaching-resource CD-Rom, 'Who Am I?' will be going out next week to all maintained secondary schools in England. This is one in a series of five CD-Roms, each of which have been specially devised by the Association for Science Education for Science Year to provide innovative online materials and interactive projects for exploring different areas of science. Apologies if you heard us the first time (!) but this is a good opportunity to re-emphasise that the other four CD-Roms in the series will not be sent out automatically in the same way as the first; you need to register for them. Therefore you will need to complete the feedback form (which can be found on the CD), print it off and send it back to the address given to make sure you receive the rest of the series. (NB The CDs are also available for purchase by individuals and independent schools. The set of five will cost you £20 if you're already a member of the ASE, and £30 if you're not. Contact ASE Booksales: 01707 283001.) AND WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE A.S.E... If you're a teacher and already have plans to make a contribution to Science Year's national focus on science, technology and engineering, why not join the ASE Certificate of Continuing Professional Development? By joining the programme, you could gain recognition for your work in the classroom and enhance your career prospects at the same time. The ASE stress the programme is high on flexibility and low on cost, and the idea is very definitely to complement the work you are doing at present in the classroom NOT complicate it! The ASE Certificate of CPD is a two-year process involving on-line tutoring as well as face to face opportunities for contact with specialist ASE staff, and the programme is supported by the DfES, the TTA and the Royal Society of Chemistry. To find out more, contact ASE INSET Services on 024 7669 0053 or email them on moakes@aseinset.u-net.com WARM UP TO SCIENCE WEEK Each year in March, the British Association organises National Science Week, a 10-day bonanza of science-related local and national events aimed at wetting the scientific appetite of people through all sorts of local and national science and technology related events. In 2002, it will run from March 8th to the 17th, and because it'll fall within Science Year, the pressure's on to make it the biggest and best BA-NSW ever. To help people find out more and contribute their ideas about Science Year in good time, a series of Awareness Evenings are taking place around the country. Each one will tell you how you can take part in BA-NSW, and give details about funding opportunities etc. Oh and there will be free refreshments too! Confirmed dates for the Awareness Evening are: Exeter University - 8th Ocotber Camborne College - 9th October Croydon Library - 11th October Cardiff, Techniquest - 18th October Ipswich, Northgate High School - 30th October Southampton - 6th November Hull - ASE meeting 15th November For more details contact Lisa Jones: nationalscienceweek@the-ba.net YOUR CHANCE TO INFLUENCE THE FUTURE Do you have a brilliant idea for a new item of hardware, software or practical classroom kit that doesn't exist at the moment but should?! If you can devise - or perhaps have already spent years silently dreaming of/screaming for - a particular resource that would help teachers deliver the science curriculum more effectively, write it down right now and store it safely because ... Science Year and the science equipment manufacturers and distributors Philip Harris will shortly be announcing a competition to find the best and most innovative design for a new piece of school science equipment. The best ideas or prototypes will be awarded prizes, and Philip Harris are committed to putting the very best into production (providing they're practical and viable of course!) Watch this space for more information. TWO CULTURES The role of science within the cultural plans of cities is the focus of the Two Cultures conference, to be held on the 7th and 8th of November at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford. Confirmed speakers include Tom Shakespeare from the Centre for Life in Newcastle, Kathy Sykes the Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival, and Lord Puttnam, the Chair of NESTA (who manage Science Year). The topics range from science in academic, science and its influence on the history of thought and culture, and art as the conduit to accessing science For the complete programme of events and a booking form, go to www.theculturecompany.com or email: info@theculturecompany.co.uk SCIENCE LINE Time once more for a question and an answer that's been submitted to Science Line during the past week... Science Line, as you may already be aware is a brilliant free service, whereby if you've a scientific query, you can get in touch with them by either phone or email, tell them what the question is, and they'll get back to you with an answer as soon as they can. Why? Because you're worth it! The phone number is 0808 800 4000 (open 1pm - 7pm Monday to Saturday) and the website can be found at www.sciencenet.org.uk. This week's most intriguing question was: "Why does jelly set when you put tinned pineapples in it, but doesn't when you put fresh pineapple in it?" And the answer can be found at: http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/database/Biology/0106/b00951d.html And supplementary question from the Science Year team - why does jelly made with vodka not set as well as the normal stuff? Answers and any tips please in time for the Christmas party! JOKE OF THE WEEK Relax, ungrit your teeth, de-frown your forehead - we have good news. Unlike last week, and OK most other weeks too, our joke this time has not been smuggled in through a hideously tortuous loophole in the definition of 'science'! However - it does have genuinely scientific origins as it's been featured in the experiment 'Laugh Lab', and was submitted to us by Sue Hordijenko, the British Association's Science Communication manager who is running 'Laugh Lab' with Richard Wiseman. Laugh Lab, if you've not heard of it yet, is a year-long online experiment in the psychology of humour. It is a collaboration between the BA and the University of Hertfordshire and was launched at the BA's festival of science in Glasgow on 5 September. During the course of Science Year Laugh Lab aims to discover more about how sense of humour differs between genders, nationalities and age groups. And it's been a huge success so far. "There's been a genuine public resonance with Laugh Lab," says Sue, "During the first week of its launch, the website received a staggering 10 million hits, which surely must make it the most successful and far reaching mass participation experiment to date." So far 8,000 jokes have been submitted, and 71,000 joke-ratings have taken place - which averages out at about 1000 jokes rated per hour - definitely NOT during office hours though, er, just want to make that very clear to all employers. The gender ratio of those logging on to rate jokes has so far been 25% female and 75% male. The reach of the experiment has been vast, and jokes have been submitted not only from the UK but from such far flung areas worldwide as USA, Venezuela, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Japan, Vietnam and Russia. So here's Sue's top joke. Can you beat this? Q. Why should you look after your relatives in a curry house? A. "In case your nan falls in to a korma" Log on to www.laughlab.co.uk and see if you could you be the one to submit the world's funniest joke. SCIENCE YEAR CONTACTS That's all for now, but please get in touch if you have any questions or contributions for future newsletters. Please send any enquiries about the Kit Pot, digital microscopes etc to: kitpot@scienceyear.com Forthcoming events and Giant Jump enquiries to: Sophie.duncan@scienceyear.com Teachers' enquiries to: Sci.teach@scienceyear.com And any other business, notes, jokes, trains, planes and automobiles to: anne.mcnaught@scienceyear.com And have a great week. Return to archive