Ramsgate’s Discovery Planet will be celebrating 10 years of award-winning science in the community this September by unveiling an exciting new autumn programme.
Generous funding from sources such as Discovery Park, players of People’s Postcode Lottery, Royal Society of Chemistry, the Nineveh Charitable Trust, and Kent Community Foundation, will enable them to continue offering free workshops for schools and the community on topics ranging from climate change, health, engineering, and much more.
As before, many of the activities will be run in partnership with researchers from the University of Kent; and a new partnership with Discovery Park will showcase the extraordinary work of the start-up science and technology companies based in Sandwich.
In the meantime, Discovery Planet is reflecting on the success of their current two-year project which comes to an end this month and resulted in more than 5,000 people visiting their premises in Ramsgate High Street. The interactive workshops, involving researchers from the University of Kent, have covered topics as wide-ranging as heritage science, clean energy, mega-telescopes, robotics, and heart health. Among the fascinating activities on offer, participants have been able to search for mini-meteorites, map the surface of the moon and use engineering skills to build crazy machines capable of throwing a dice.
Discovery Planet has also developed strong links to other Ramsgate organisations, AIR, Pie Factory and Mencap and hopes to continue working with them throughout the next academic year. Almost every primary school in Thanet has had the opportunity to come along to the first long-term ‘Pop-up shop’ venue of its kind in the UK, and family groups have been able to learn together and build up an understanding of the role science plays in their everyday lives.
Teaching staff agree that it has been an invaluable resource which brings the science curriculum to life and inspires young people to consider careers in the fields of science and technology.
The Discovery Planet venue has proven to be a valuable asset for the town too, with organisations such as Kent Coast Volunteering and the Historic England ‘Happy Mondays’ team being able to take advantage of the location. With community space difficult to find, the opportunity to use the accessible space at a low cost has been enormously helpful.
Discovery Planet’s prize-winning team has thanked all the volunteers, scientists, academics, and everyone who came to their workshops.
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