New Junior Science teaching tool at
Ireland’s Historic Science Centre, Birr, Co Offaly

Birr Castle, home to Ireland’s Historic Science Centre, which charts the development of the famous Great Telescope and other scientific initiatives of the Parsons family over four hundred years, will launch an interactive education pack ‘Junior Science Trail’ in September 2005 for Junior Certificate Science students and their teachers. 

The Centre has developed on-site material that covers curriculum areas across chemistry, physics and biology such as light, energy conversion, living things, ecology, classification of substances, and the historic lives and scientific interests of the Parsons family.

Combining a botany field trip to the award-winning gardens with an interactive museum visit, the ‘Junior Science Trail’ involves student activities such as recording an ecology in the 400-year-old wildflower meadow using plant and animal keys, identifying trees using a tree key, using the Periodic Table of Elements to determine the makeup of the telescope mirrors, and observing the many engineering features and exhibits, such as the Great Telescope and the Lunar heat Machine, to draw conclusions and apply their knowledge in a practical way.

Conscious of concerns within many educational institutions, research organisations and industry bodies of the declining numbers of science students at university level, the Centre hope their ‘Junior Science Trail’ can help in providing practical activities and an experience of the adventure of scientific discovery outside the classroom to address reversing that trend.   ‘Successive generations of my family made their discoveries here in Birr, where their curiosity was nurtured and encouraged from a young age, and we want to re-create that sense of adventure and scientific heritage for a new generation of young scientists,’ commented Alicia Parsons, Manager of Ireland’s Historic Science Centre.

For further information, student ticket prices and bookings, please contact Alicia Parsons at Ireland’s Historic Science Centre on 0509 20336 or see www.birrcastle.com