Ready, steady...

Getting ready for a Science Communication course at National Science Learning Centre.
Doing the equivalent of patting pockets for keys when going out:
- Pen portrait of me - check
- Examples of data/area of work - check
- Notes about science outreach activities that I've been involved with and how they went
plus some examples - check
- Train tickets researched & booked - check
- Reminding my sons to be good and obey Mum (and not drive her mad) whilst dad is away -che... Actually I'd better remember to do that one... :-)
Above sounds a bit like the Mastercard advert (just needs the priceless bit)- bound to have forgotten something else.
Course is funded by Wellcome Trust & Research Councils-UK. I'm getting nervous and excited at the same time - Am expecting this to be good and hope that it will make me a better STEM ambassador...

Taste & Flavour outreach activity

Along with four colleagues (a veritable Science A-Team!), I was involved in an outreach activity at the University of East Anglia today.
Two frenetic 25-min sessions involving about 30 pupils as an activity for the Local Education Authority.
We re-jigged the taste and flavour activity to suit the venue and time pressures.
The children seemed to enjoy exploring the activities (including dying their tongues with blue food colouring!).
We asked them to think about why we have the ability to taste foods, see how taste-buds are laid out on the tongue and explored why people react to tastes differently.
Dave, Tris & I have all done this activity before, Mel & Kenzi (as far as I know) hadn't but kudos to them they did an excellent job interacting with the children.

Information for teachers who might wish to run this activity at their schools (including Risk Assessments) is available at the second hyperlink (above).

British Society for the History of Mathematics Essay competition

BSHM Undergraduate Essay Prize

The British Society for the History of Mathematics is pleased to invite submissions for its 2011-12 undergraduate essay prize. The essay, which may be on any topic within the history of mathematics, should be between 2000-2500 words. The prize is open to any person who is enrolled as an undergraduate in a UK or Irish university during the academic year 2011-12. The value of the prize will be £100, plus one year free membership of the Society.
Essays in submission for the prize should be sent via e mail attachment to Dr Mark McCartney at m.mccartney@ulster.ac.uk.
Applicants should also give details of their place and year of study and the title of the degree programme on which they are enrolled.
The deadline for receipt of submissions is 1st May 2012
A poster is available - please print and display this if you are in a position to advertise this Prize to undergraduates.

European Commission - e-book on Women in Science

Teachers and parents may find this link useful to encourage girls into science as well as being an interesting read. This e-book is available as a pdf and in mp3 audio book format.

For much of human history, women were officially excluded from the scientific realm. However, in spite of their invisibility in the history narrative, this did not mean that science was exclusively a man’s world. Many women, throughout the centuries, have managed to overcome their marginalisation and excel in their chosen field, making vital contributions to the sum of human knowledge.

With this book we would like to celebrate European women scientists throughout the ages. The book tells the compelling stories of some of the heroines of European science – some sung but many unsung – and, through their narratives, it enriches and completes the history of scientific knowledge by highlighting its female face.

Janez Potočnik, Commissioner for Science and Research

 Ada Lovelace Day is on 7th October 2011
Excerpt from the Finding Ada web-site

"Ada Lovelace Day aims to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths by encouraging people around the world to talk about the women whose work they admire. This international day of celebration helps people learn about the achievments of women in STEM, inspiring others and creating new role models for young and old alike."

Science Communication course

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/

Have had the good news that I've managed to get a place on the Science Communication for a School Teacher Audience course at the National Science Learning Centre!
Evidently, they liked the case I submitted...
I will blog about the course and my impressions of it (next month).

UK schoolkids to search skies for 'Snoopy' Apollo LEM

Sounds like a cool project for schools to get involved in. Nick is a Wiltshire-based astronomer (His Twitter-feed is here.).  

(Read the full article at The Register)

Hunt for long-lost Apollo 10 moon lander adrift in space

Kids have been invited to join the hunt for a NASA mooncraft that has been lost in space for more than 40 years.
In a dry run for the successful Apollo 11 moon-landing mission, astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan aboard the Apollo 10 did everything Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong later did, apart from actually land on the moon. The trio also set the record, which still stands, for the fastest human beings have ever flown – 25,000mph.
Snoopy did an eight-hour lunar orbit, descended and ascended, re-docked and was jettisoned towards the Sun along with the S-IVB engine before Charlie Brown returned to Earth.
Nick Howes believes Snoopy is still out there, and he wants to get kids to find it using the Faulkes Telescope Project run by Glamorgan University. The telescopes are in Hawaii and Australia, so students can look for Snoopy during their school day in the UK.