Archive for the 'Schools and Education' Category

Top to Top at the museum

Published on April 21, 2008 in Climate, News, Reviews, Schools and Education and Technology. 0 Comments

The team from Top to Top will be coming to the museum on Saturday and Sunday April 26 and 27. Com eina nad hear their amazing strories from a seven year expedition to travel the world without fossil fuels. currently they are cycling back to Sydney from Melbourne.

Dario will be taking us throught he many wonderful things they have seen along the way, and the solutions they have seen in communities dealing with environmental problems around the world. The presentation starts here at the museum at 11.30am both days.

Letting people know about your climate change activities

Published on December 5, 2007 in Climate, Reviews, Schools and Education and Technology. 0 Comments

A new website from The Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres (ASPAC) is letting people know about the climate change activities of other people around the globe. http://climatexchange.aspacnet.org/about.html is a new initiative that lets you map your activity and post video, images or text to tell people what you are doing.

Already Paddington Public School have put up a report on an energy and water audit they completed. There is a story on bush fires in Alpine Australia. And many more Australian examples, take a look and post your initiatives to encourage and empower people from around the globe.

In the shadow of the moon

Published on October 2, 2007 in News, Reviews and Schools and Education. 0 Comments

Movie poster

Recently Madman films gave Powerhouse Museum curator of all things space, Kerrie Dougherty, the opportunity to see the upcoming doco “In the shadow of the moon“. Kerrie happily wrote a review for us, so keep an eye out for this film – early February – and here is the review;

Last week I had the opportunity to see an advance screening of “In the Shadow of the Moon”, a documentary about the Apollo lunar exploration program that has been winning awards-and deservedly so-at film festivals across the United States. While this could be summarised as “a documentary about the Apollo moon saga, using original NASA footage and commentary by the astronauts themselves”, such a bland description does not convey the richness of imagery and information presented within this film, nor the emotional experience it evokes in someone old enough to remember the heady days of the Space Race, of which the Apollo 11 Moon landing was the culmination.
“In the Shadow of the Moon” skilfully blends original footage from the Apollo program, some of it rarely seen, with commentary derived from recent interviews with 10 surviving Apollo astronauts. Although, disappointingly, Neil Armstrong chose not to contribute to the film, Buzz Aldrin (the second person on the Moon) is there, as is Apollo CM Pilot Mike Collins who is, in my opinion, the ‘star of the show’, with his thoughtful, insightful comments. There is no overarching narration-the astronauts’ reminiscences, as they recount their spaceflight experiences and their feelings about their role as astronauts during the Cold War, are woven around a skein of images that cover the Apollo lunar program from its inception in 1961 until its conclusion in 1972. NASA film, television news broadcasts and interview footage, coupled with a magnificent soundtrack (that draws more than a touch of inspiration from the film “Apollo 13”) are artfully combined into a seamless history of Apollo from the perspective of its most visible participants, the astronauts.
It is a deeply moving experience to hear the astronauts talk about their Apollo experience with the perspective of time, and this film has much to offer even for those too young to remember the Moon program. I thoroughly recommend seeing it when the film is released nationally next year. And for those interested in the history of the early space program, from perspective of the people involved in it-astronauts, engineers, support-personnel etc-I’d like to recommend two recently released books co-written by Australian space historian Colin Burgess: “Into that Silent Sea” and “In the Shadow of the Moon” (the similarity of name with the film is coincidental: the two were developed quite independently).

Five things to do during the Ultimo Science Festival

Published on August 17, 2007 in Monthly Talks, News, Reviews, Schools and Education and The Future. 0 Comments

Ultimo Science Festival
usf logo

If you are in to science or want a great day out that is fun, thought provoking and local then check out our list of 5 things to do during the Ultimo Science Festival.

“Its time for us all to explore our untouched scientific passions. The Ultimo Science Festival is an opportunity to familiarise ourselves with the latest scientific discoveries, whilst supporting our local science community.” – Clover Moore, Lord Mayor, City of Sydney, NSW, Australia

1. Einstein and the Science of Climate Change
Wednesday August 22nd 2007.
Powerhouse Museum 6pm for a 6.30 start
This is a FREE event from the Powerhouse Museum and proudly supported by the Australian Institute of Physics.

We all know we should be scared of the effects of rising levels of Carbon dioxide, climate change and global warming – BUT how can scientists be so sure that they have got it right, or wrong. If you don’t know your orbital dynamics from your albedo, or get tongue tied talking about black body radiation then this talk is for you.

In the third annual Einstein Lecture Dr Mark Butler, winner of The Prime Minister’s award for science education will use demonstrations to demystify the physics and techniques behind our understanding of global warming and climate change.

2. Nuclear Matters
A hot Free Radicals discussion of all things atomic, as the museum launches our new Nuclear Matters exhibition this is the perfect time to talk about hyow far we have come in our understanding and use of Nuclear technologies. This discussion will question experts on everything to do with our use of radio-active isotopes, from medicine to power (of course). But we will also be interested in the social impacts of making decisions about approving installations and where and when we deal with those issues.
Speakers include Dr Jesse Shore, Senior curator of sciences, Powerhouse Museum.
Venue: Café Loco, Powerhouse Museum
Time: 6:30pm
Cost: Free

3. Ultimo big science night – sex magic and power – the science the art.
All at the Powerhouse Museum and all free.
Come along to any or all of the talks tonight and be provoked to think about an eclectic mix of ideas.
Hosted by festival patron and ABC personality Dr Paul Willis. Tonight you have the chance to OD on great science topics. Come along to any or all of these talks – its a choose your own adventure. We start, like all good adventures with a little sex:-

a. Weird animal genomes and the evolution of sex
Professor Jennifer A. Marshall Graves, RSBS, ANU
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Followed by some magic:-

b. Why Do People Believe Weird Things?
Richard Wiseman (UK)
Time: 6.45 – 8pm

and finally confront the power:-

c. Energy Options for Australia
Professor Aidan Byrne, Department of Physics, ANU
Time: 8:15 – 9:15pm

4. Meet Australia’s first pregnant man
Start choosing names, Mr Jones Australia’s very first pregnant man will be talking about male pregnancy during a visit to the Powerhouse Museum. Thanks to the Science Museum in London and Spectrum Theatre you will have the opportunity to realise the whys and wherefores of men having babies. Why would a man want to go through that? How could it be possible? When is it due? How will it be born? Of course there is more to it than meets the eye.
Saturday and Sunday 25-26 August, 10am to 4pm.
Free with Museum entry.

5. Genpets – an installation from Canada
genpets on the net

Artist Adam Brandejs’ on demand pets will be on display in the Powerhouse shop. Meet with Market researcher Sonja from Genpets to discuss the outcomes of biotechnology and life support research.
see also Genpets
On display Saturday and Sunday 25-26 August 2007, 10am to 4pm.
Free with Museum entry.

If that isn’t enough Check out everything happening at the Ultimo Science Festival online.

Another secret micrograph

Published on November 5, 2006 in Giveaways, Schools and Education and Technology. 8 Comments

check the comments for clues – final answer tomorrow.

Something happened so we couldn’t do this weekly. But here is another microscope image. If you are the first non-Powerhouse staff member to identify the object in the image you will receive a family pass to the museum.

Mystery image 2
image captured with the Leica EZ4D microscope with built in 3megapixel camera. Mag: 35x

Footprint calculators and CO2 emissions

Published on October 10, 2006 in Facts and Figures, For Beginners, Reviews, Schools and Education and Technology. 2 Comments

I was told about an interesting site for comparing global impacts in real time, called Breathing Earth, this calculator uses real time data to calculate and animate the births, deaths and CO2 emissions of every country on earth. Watching the USA and China flash red every 5 and 9 seconds respectively, as they release 1000 tonnes of CO2, is an eye-opener.

To see that little old Australia takes 1.5 minutes is a little heartening but then seeing that Brazil with nearly 10 times our population takes 1.7 minutes makes us look obscene.

This is an easy way to compare countries, and based on information gleaned from an online version of the World Fact Book (CIA) will be helpful in arguments.

Breathing Earth is a great resource for looking at international effects on the globe, to compare the haves with the have-nots etc.

But if you want to check your own Ecological footprint;

The area of land required to provide the resources consumed by an individual, city or nation.

then the Powerhouse has developed 2 calculators based on Australian information.

The first, called Eco’tude, is a substantial resource for schools. With a suite of supporting documents to get students engaged in the facts of climate change, Eco’tude is being used by large numbers of schools and local governments to change student behaviour.

Eco'tude website

Our second calculator, Bigfoot, is simple to use (just 15 questions) and gives a personal footprint.

Bigfoot personal eco-footprint calculator

Both these resources are freely available through the net and ideal for use to create your own benchmark for change.

Mystery Micrograph

Published on September 25, 2006 in Giveaways, News, Schools and Education and Technology. 6 Comments

This is a new page for the blog. Each week we will put up a mystery micrograph image. The first 5 people to work out what the object is will receive a free pass to the museum.

1. You need to be as detailed as possible in your description of the object.
2. Judges decisions are final.
3. Prizes awarded to the 5 comments with the most correct detail.
4. Where more than 5 comments are submitted with equal detail the first five posted will receive the prizes.
5. Only one correct entry per email address will receive a prize.
6. Prizes consist of a single adult pass to the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

If you come back later in the week there will be clues to help if it hasn’t been worked out.

Leave your description as a comment on this post and we will choose the winners according to the time the comments were left.

So here is the image for the week from Monday September 25
Mystery object 1 - Leica EZ4D microscope - 35x magnification
image captured with the Leica EZ4D microscope with built in 3megapixel camera. Mag: 35x

As a number of people stated this was indeed an image of the Australian $20 polymer note. This is on the side with Mary Reibey – and is an image of a property she owned. The reserve bank has details of the Mary Reibey story. The Australian polymer notes have a number of security features to thwart counterfeiting – two can be seen in this image

Slightly raised printing that can be felt with the fingers is used for the portraits and other major design elements.
Intricate multi-coloured fine-line patterns and images appear on each side.

The Polymer note technology is now used by countries all over the world to protect currency.

Finally congratulations to Harry who correctly identified the image – luckily the only person to do so – he gets a family pass to the new Great Wall of China exhibition at the Powerhouse. Next time Harry to be elligible you will need to post your answer to the blog as a comment.

Weir-Warman trophy heads back to New Zealand

Published on September 25, 2006 in Reviews, Schools and Education, Technology and The Future. 0 Comments

For the third year running a New Zealand entry has collected first place at the Weir-Warman/Engineers Australia student design and build competition run at the Powerhouse Museum over the weekend. The design and build competition challenges 2nd year mechanical engineering students to build an autonomous machine to complete a complex task.
Some of the entries
This year’s task proved very challenging with no teams giving perfect performances during competition, although two teams produced perfect runs in trials and the University of Auckland’s winning team was caught on video completing a perfect run during their victory lap.


University of Auckland's winning entry completes a perfect victory lap

Second place went to the UTas team and third to the team from UNSW@ADFA. A special judges commendation for innovation went to the team from Adelaide University.

The competition attracted entries from across the region, in all 16 teams made it through campus competitions to get to Sydney for the Finals. One of the very interesting things to note from the competition is the variety of ways to construct a solution to the same problem. It was great to see all the teams competing at the Museum over the weekend, and they are to be commended for the positive spirit of the competition.

The 2006 task required teams to construct a device to deposit “seeds” into fields represented by the squares on the track. Two difficulties were added – the track was lined with “trees” which had to remain standing and a 90 degree corner had to be negotiated. All of this had to be completed in less than 10 seconds for the elusive perfect score.
An unfortunate second run came undone for the UNSW@ADFA entry

For full results keep an eye on the competition website.

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