Making magnetic slime, playing ‘static tennis’ and racing gas-propelled cars are just some of the fun activities children can enjoy during a brand new family event organised by Drax to celebrate British Science Week.
The free outdoor event – “A Bit of Science for a Change!” explores the theme of changing states of matter and will take place within the woods at the Skylark Centre and Nature Reserve between 11am and 3pm on Sunday 19 March.
Children use a map to locate a series of science stations hidden around the nature reserve and then answer questions to earn the equipment and materials needed to complete fun science-based challenges investigating the changing states of liquids, gases and solids.
Drax visitor centre co-ordinator, Jane Breach said:
“This is the first event Drax has hosted as part of British Science Week and we’ve come up with a number of ‘hands-on’ challenges designed to appeal to children of all ages and abilities. We hope this will be a great opportunity for families to come together, enjoy our beautiful nature reserve and learn something along the way.”
She added:
“Discovering how to make a CD hover above the ground and create magnetic slime are just some of the exciting activities planned. For our more competitive participants we’ve even created a Top Gear-style leader board to record the furthest distance achieved by gas-propelled cars!”
Drax has a long tradition of supporting education and helping children in their STEM studies (science, technology, engineering and maths) and recently launched ‘Project Reinvent’ – a secondary schools’ challenge to develop an idea using STEM learning to improve their local community.
Entry to “A Bit of Science for a Change!” is free and there is no need to pre-book. Picnics are permitted on designated areas of the nature reserve. For more information call 01757 612797 or email [email protected].
Editor’s Notes
British Science Week 2017 runs from the 10 to the 19 March. It is a 10-day programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities across the UK organised by the British Science Association (BSA) for people of all ages.
BSA is a charity, founded in 1831. Its mission is to support, grow and diversify the community of people interested and involved in science. For further information visit www.britishscienceassociation.org.
About Drax
Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used as the UK moves to a low carbon future. Drax operates the largest power station in the UK and supplies up to 8 percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. Drax is the biggest single site renewable generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. Its 2,300-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.
The Group includes:
Drax Biomass, based in the US and manufactures compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests.
Haven Power, based in Ipswich, providing businesses with electricity.
Opus Energy, based in Oxford and Northampton, England, and Cardiff, Wales, providing electricity and gas to businesses.
Billington Bioenergy, based in Liverpool with depots across the UK, is one of the leading distributors of wood pellets for sustainable heating in the UK.
For more information visit www.drax.com/uk
