The Museum is Open...

We’ve gone STEM mad here at CU Trust! Last week, we announced our partnership with the Butlin’s Science Weekend. This week, we’re delighted to tell you about a brand new Learning Destination just down the road from CU HQ – the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester!

The Museum of Science and Industry’s mission is to explore where science met industry and the modern world began, and to understand the impact that Manchester’s science, technology and innovation continues to have on all of our lives.

Contained within the Museum’s five historic, listed buildings is a veritable treasure trove of scientific splendours and industrial innovations. What’s more, the Museum stands proudly on the site of the world’s first passenger railway station, which opened in September 1830!

From historic aircraft (including a triplane) to stinky sewers (ew…) and a hands-on Experiment Gallery (ooh..!), you can guarantee that the Museum has something for everyone.

 

With exciting temporary exhibitions, fantastic half-term holiday activities and a daily programme of shows and demonstrations, there’s always something new to see and do. For details of what’s on, click here. 

Children can visit the Museum’s exhibitions, displays and Experiment Gallery - as well as any workshops and shows available during their visit - and can claim up to 3 hours of learning time in their Passport To Learning. They just need to speak to one of the Museum staff at the Information Desk (keep an eye out for one of our brand new flyers too!)

The Museum of Science and Industry is also the proud producer of the Manchester Science Festival. This year, the festival runs from October 22^nd to November 1^st at venues across the city. This is an incredible opportunity to learn about a whole host of scientific topics from some of the top minds in the country in fun and imaginative ways. Check out the full line up here.

Photo credits: Museum of Science and Industry/Chris Foster.

Catch you next time!

Ian

Prepare to be astonished – Science is coming!

Introduction

Science can seem like a daunting prospect to some children. The idea of someone being able to launch a probe that can shoot past Pluto, taking photos as it goes, seems worlds apart (pun intended) from their own.

But science, at its simplest level, is simply about gaining knowledge through investigation, which children do all the time! We’ve all poked an eyeball (hopefully only our own…) or a worm to see what it feels like, just like we’ve all learned what happens if we go round a corner too fast on our bike! 

Simply put, the effects of, and opportunities to explore, science are all around us and they’re something that we can all interact with.

Aims

Children’s University and Butlin’s are on a mission to inspire the next generation of scientists.  We want to help children who want to learn and experience more to understand that science is part of everyday life, not something that’s just reserved for boffins in lab coats and goggles!

As such, the Butlin’s Minehead resort, in Somerset, is staging a phenomenal event, aimed at young people aged 6-13 years, called The Astonishing Family Science Weekend on the 18^th-21^st of September 2015. Here at Children’s University, we’re making the weekend available as an epic Learning Activity to those of our Passport-holders lucky enough to be attending! 

If you haven’t yet booked to attend The Astonishing Family Science Weekend, click here to find out more. 

Hypothesis

Children who attend The Astonishing Family Science Weekend will undoubtedly be amazed and enthralled by what they see and learn at the 30+ activities. They’ll get hands (and feet) on, building rockets, causing explosions and walking on custard! The teams from Brainiac, Aardman Animations and the National Space Centre will entertain and educate with their shows and workshops. The children will even get to see a hovercraft made out of a chair, some wood and a leaf blower! 

Children registered with Children’s University will be able to download the CU time sheet available here before they go to Butlin’s. By going to enough shows, workshops and drop-in sessions on the Saturday and Sunday, CU learners will be able to gain up to 10 hours (5 hours maximum per day) of validated learning when they attend and fill in their sheet. 

Results 

Children will learn about all manner of scientific wonders, discovering the fun side of science. They’ll come back from the weekend enthused about science and eager to learn more about the world in which they live. They will also have learned that science has an effect on everything all around them – literally, everywhere they look – from the New Horizons probe journeying through the stars to the blades of grass on which they lie to gaze up at those distant lights at night.

Children’s University members can fill their time sheet with everything that they’ve done and take it to a member of the Butlin’s team who will sign their Passport To Learning for the number of hours achieved. This will potentially move these children much closer to the next award level in their Children’s University career!

Conclusions

This is the first time we’ve run a project like this with Butlin’s and we are beyond excited! With similar events running throughout 2016, one at each of the Butlin’s sites, we hope to see this relationship develop further over time. We’re absolutely convinced that children will be blown away by what they can see and do at The Astonishing Family Science Weekend and hope that our Passport holders will enjoy learning about science with us. 

Further Reading

Please visit the Butlin’s Children’s University page for more information and to download the CU time sheet before your visit.

Alternatively, please visit www.childrensuniversity.co.uk/learning-destinations or our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Nature Rockz!

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” – Albert Einstein

Here at Children’s University, we like to encourage children to explore the world and the natural wonders that fill it. You can learn so much just by immersing yourself in nature and questioning what you see and what you know.

That’s why we love Learning Destinations that teach children about the natural world, as well as how to respect and care for it. Be it sleuthing in the woods with the Woodland Trust, walking the Forestry Commission’s trails, or honing survival skills in various workshops across the country, we can’t get enough of the great outdoors!

This is quite fortunate really, as the Haven Holiday Park in Berwick, Scotland has just been validated as a Learning Destination thanks to their amazing Nature Rockz activities! These fantastic challenges, available to campers at the park, let children get back to nature with 4 different groups of activities, and some of our Passport-holders have been along to see what all the fuss is about:

Bush Craft

First up, was the section designed to turn you into the next Bear Grylls! If you got lost in the woods at night in the middle of winter, could you survive? Would you know how to purify water to make it safe to drink, forage for food or navigate your way to safety? The Berwick Park Rangers teach visitors all of these skills, as well as how to keep warm by building shelters and lighting fires.

During their visit, our young people got to try their hands at these latter two activities and were given a rather spectacular demonstration of just what can be achieved with a little potassium permanganate and Anti-Freeze...The result can only be described as an explosion in a cup!

Get Creative

A very bold robin lives around our garden. We’ve called him Batman (the bat that lives under the eaves of the house is called Robin), but we don’t know exactly where he lives and are worried that the tree he had made his home was recently chopped down.

It would be lovely to build a home for him in the garden itself, but I wouldn’t know where to start… Fortunately, I can now ask some of our Passport-holders to help me as they’ve had a go at making bird boxes, as well as ladybird hotels and beautiful nature-inspired works of art, at Berwick! The Get Creative group of activities lets the children get to grips with tools, paints and that all-important, ‘peelable’ PVC glue!

Park Safari

Having gotten covered in paints and PVC, our little band of evaluators were shown just how many ways there are to simply enjoy and explore the natural world, from a pirate treasure trail to pond dipping! Not to forget the mini-beast safari, which our brave children chose to do. There’s nothing more disgustingly brilliant than lifting up a rock or log and seeing all of the worms, woodlice, beetles and spiders squirm and scuttle away to safety!

The Coast

Finally, the children reached the coastline, where they were able to make the most of the vastly different landscape. First, they built sand sculptures, including this fantastic dinosaur (which, unfortunately, got a bit wet soon after this photo was taken…thus teaching the children an important lesson in tidal forces!). Then the Park Ranger took them rock pooling when they got the chance to get up close and personal with crabs, starfishes and all their fishy friends.

Safe to say, the children had a fantastic time learning all about the great outdoors. I don’t know about you but I want to have a go now! So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself down (up?) to the Haven park in Berwick and immerse yourself in the beautiful Scottish woodlands and coastal areas, and find out just why it is that Nature Rockz!

Catch you next time!

Ian

CU Poetry Slam 2015 Winners

Those of you who follow Children's University on Facebook (and if you don't, why not?!) may remember that we ran a CU Poetry Slam competition in June. Our children had to write a poem about Children's University, in any format, on any scale. We wanted everything from a haiku to the next Odyssey!

True to form, our young passport holders didn't disappoint. We received loads of fantastic entries, highlighting once again the talents that our children possess, the same talents that were celebrated at last week's final of the Wicked Young Writers' Award competition.

We had a wonderful time reading all of the poems we were sent and we felt that every entry was worthy of a prize. In the end though, we had to select just 5 winners. This wasn't easy but the 5 winning entries are, I'm sure you'll all agree, absolutely brilliant efforts and deserve all of the praise we can heap upon them.

So, without further ado, may I present to you the winners of the Children's University Poetry Slam 2015!

  

Children’s University

Children’s University is so cool

Out of hours learning not just at school

Gymnastics, brownies, dance club too

That’s how I get my stamps, how about you?

All these experiences help me learn

And get me ready for the big wide world!

Preparing for my future head of me

What will I become, what will I be?

It’s all up to me…

Poetry written by Renae Whyte

Year 4, Abbeywood First School

  

The Weight On My Shoulders

Sometimes there's a weight on my shoulders, It feels like massive boulders.

If I tried to carry it to school

I would fall down on the floor and look like a bit of a fool

But when there's someone to share the load, It makes things easier along the winding road

But when there are friends and family to help me out, with the love they give i'll succeed no doubt.

With a helping hand and a loving touch

I'm happy now no load is too much

Ryan Harper, Year 3, Abbeywood First School

Congratulations again to all of our winners and a huge thank you to all of our other entrants for sending us such cracking poems! If you're anything like me, you now can't wait for next year's competition.

Catch you next time!

Ian