Welsh University Joins the Space Race With a Link-Up to Nasa
Posted on: Thursday, 17 June 2004, 06:00 CDT
A welsh university has joined the space race after it was recruited to a Nasa committee The University of Glamorgan's Centre for Astronomy and Science Education has acted as advisers to America's brand new $30m Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame which opens later this week.
It is intended to rekindle interest in science among children.
The Nasa link-up has already had the desired effect because a series of one-day conferences at the University of Glamorgan will be attended by more than 500 schoolchildren from across Wales.
The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) has awarded pounds 33,000 from its learning programme to stage the conferences from June 21-24 at the Centre for Astronomy and Science Education.
Professor Mark Brake, who with colleague Martin Griffiths has just been elected to the Nasa Astrobiology Science Communication Advisory Board, said yesterday, 'There is a potential crisis in education at the moment cause by the lack of interest in science among children - and people are looking to use science fiction as a way of counteracting that.'
He said students would be given a trip away from the classroom in order to make science more interesting and relevant - and, using multimedia presentations, they would discuss a variety of ethical and controversial issues.
Prof Brake said, 'We'll be asking them to create their own science fiction by imagining a series of scenarios in which science has had an effect on our lives, such as: What if you could travel through time? What if machines ruled the world? What if there was only one continent? What if we could contact aliens?
'However, we must remember that although it can be used as an educational tool, the main purpose of science fiction is to entertain.'
The cultural significance of the genre is the driving force behind the creation of the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame - which is why Professor Brake was flown out to Seattle recently.
He went to make a presentation to the museum's board - which includes such luminaries as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas - on how best to develop the educational side of things.
'There are certainly some potentially exciting opportunities for Glamorgan to link up with the museum possibly in terms of either study or even graduate employment,' said Professor Brake.
Prof Brake admits it is 'enormously flattering' to have been elected to Nasa's Astrobiology Science Communication Advisory Board and he said it was astonishing to think they had heard of the work being done at the Centre for Astronomy and Science Education in Wales.
'They have asked us to help specifically with the need to communicate ideas to the public on the question of extra- terrestrial life,' he said.
'The work Nasa does is phenomenal but they also realise that if they fail to excite and interest the public they will lose the backing needed to secure necessary funding.
'This shows that this crisis in science communication - the failure of scientists to engage public interest - is now an international problem.'
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