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Contents
News from the Ecsite-uk Office: Please complete the Membership
Values Questionnaire!
Developments in the sector 1: NESTA Futurelab call for submissions
is open
Developments in the sector 2: Would you like Roboshark in your
aquarium?
Resources: A new handbook for educators is being compiled
News from the regions: The Big Idea, Irvine, faces
closure
Diary Dates: 11-12 September, Ecsite-uk at the BA festival; 27-29
November, Ecsite annual conference in Munich
News from the Ecsite-uk Office: Please complete the Membership Values Questionnaire!
Ecsite-uk is conducting a Membership Values Questionnaire. We’d also be interested in the views of some non-members and potential members. Thanks to those who have already replied. If you haven’t already done so, please spare 20 minutes to help us to help and serve you better.
The questionnaire is at www.ecsite-uk.net/question [archive page - link removed]
Developments in the sector 1: NESTA Futurelab call for submissions is open
NESTA Futurelab seeks exciting ideas about new ways of learning with technology. Our aim is to help to make them into working prototypes that will prove (or disprove) their concept.
To do this we will invest the time and effort of our own team of staff (experts in areas of design, learning research, project management, technology and fundraising) into projects deemed to show potential. Work is carried out in partnership with the originator of the successful idea. Where it is appropriate, and always respecting intellectual property ownership, third-party partners will be brought in to enhance projects.
The key question NESTA Futurelab is currently addressing is: How can features of games technology, games play and games playing communities be used to develop intrinsically motivating resources for learning modern languages and science?
The current call is open for submissions from 1 September to 10 October 2003.
For details, visit www.nestafuturelab.org/ideas.htm [archive page - link removed]
Developments in the sector 2: Would you like Roboshark in your aquarium?
The world's only robotic shark has moved in with some real, live fish. Roboshark 2, as it's called, is living with four real sharks at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. It will live in the aquarium for up to three years, so visitors can watch it and see how the other sharks react to it.
Roboshark 2 is a copy of Roboshark 1, which was built for a BBC TV series called Smart Sharks.
The two-metre-long robot is modelled on a Pacific Grey reef shark and it swims using a combination of sensors and its 'electronic brain':
To find out more, contact inventor Andrew Sneath at Roboshark Enquiries Online: Tech@Roboshark.info
Resources: A new handbook for educators is being compiled
Space for Learning is a new partnership research project led by Arts Council England, the Clore Duffield Foundation, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Education and Skills, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Resource. As part of this research, we are carrying out a survey of all types of education spaces in the UK, from museums and historic houses to industrial, archaeological and natural heritage sites, architecture and science centres, children's museums and discovery centres.
The research will culminate in a practical handbook. 'Space for Learning: A Handbook for Education Spaces in Museums, Heritage Sites and Discovery Centre', will be made widely available to those working within the sector. Publication is planned for 2004.
The Space for Learning questionnaire can be completed and returned online at
www.art-works.org.uk/research/questionnaire.shtml [archive page - link removed]
Alternatively, the questionnaire can be downloaded (from the same site) as a PDF file and posted free of charge to: Education Direct, Space for Learning, Freepost RR59, Rochester, Kent, ME2 4BR. Please note that the closing date for responses is 30 September 2003.
News from the regions: The Big Idea, Irvine, faces closure
On 29 August, The Scotsman newspaper reported: "Just three years after opening, The Big Idea's visitor numbers have fizzled out and its impending closure this Sunday has sparked new fears about the viability of Scotland's other fledgling science centres.”
CEOs of the Scottish science centres are making a presentation to the Scottish Executive, to discuss a budget line for annual funding of science centres from 2004.
Jim Wallace, the deputy First Minister, said he would also be meeting the education and tourism ministers "to discuss future policy and strategy for science centres – to ensure more big ideas do not crash and burn."
Diary Dates: 11-12 September, Ecsite-uk at the BA festival;
27-29 November, Ecsite Annual Conference in Munich
Ecsite-uk annual meeting, 10am up to and including lunch!
Friday 12 September, Manchester Museum
The Ecsite-uk AGM 2003 is combined with a special-opportunity behind-scenes
tour of the New Galleries at the Manchester Museum.
All Ecsite members in the UK have received an invitation.
The morning’s programme and AGM agenda are at www.ecsite-uk.net/agm [archived page- link removed]
Sustainable Science Centres
2-5pm Thursday 11 September, Salford University
This session, convened and chaired by Ecsite-uk, is part of the BA annual festival
of science at Salford University:
Sustainable science requires a sustainable supply of scientists, and of citizens
supportive of scientific research. Science and discovery centres play a key role
in ensuring this supply by inspiring interest in science in learners of all ages.
Science centres have a further vital role to play in forming the attitudes and
actions that will turn 'sustainable development' from a good idea to a living
reality. Science centres have the resources to contribute to both sustainability
agendas. But to do so they must be financially sustainable themselves – they
must not only survive but also thrive. How can income streams be enhanced without
resorting to the begging-bowl?
See www.the-BA.net
and Quickfind <Festival of Science>
ecsite2003 Annual Conference
27-29 November 2003, Munich
Following the record attendance at Ecsite2002 in London, the annual conference
in Munich will again offer practical workshops on professional challenges, strategy
sessions on major policy issues, and thematic plenary sessions.
The conference is hosted by the Deutsches Museum, which celebrates its centenary
in 2003.
For conference information and registration, check www.ecsite.net
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