Aoibhéann Bird, Clarity and Philip Smyth, SBI round up the scouts at the JamOige ‘Science in Tents’ event.
An interactive Science Tent sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) aimed to open the eyes of all participants at the recent JamÓige 2012 event. The Scouting Ireland event, which took place at Ardgillan Castle in Skerries Co. Dublin, aimed to open the eyes of all participants at the event to the wonders of science, engineering and technology. Over four and half thousand Beaver, Cub and adult Scouters took part in this hugely successful event.
“Science in Tents!” is an innovative concept developed and driven by Education and Outreach Managers Aoibhéann Bird from CLARITY and Philip Smyth from Systems Biology Ireland. The aim of the initiative is to develop an appreciation for the subject while doing fun hands on science activities outside of the classroom.
What differentiates this event from others, apart from its scale, is the training of staff volunteers. Over 50 volunteers were coached in science outreach and how to present new experiments to each level of participant. The staff were encouraged to let go of the reigns and let the youth members lead the learning through each experiment. This approach fostered by both Aoibheann and Philip allowed a non-prescriptive environment in which each child gained a personal appreciation for their own scientific explorations. A further benefit of such an approach means that staff volunteers also take home with them a bank of knowledge, not only of the experiments that they were involved with on the day, but also more importantly a methodology of teaching science in a fun and interactive way.
“Even the quiet kids were really in to it! They got to play around with all the equipment and came up with their own little experiments that we hadn’t event thought of.” – Venture Scout volunteer aged 17.
The SFI sponsored Science Tent opened the eyes of all participants to the wonders of science, engineering and technology.
