Date: 3 February 2006
UNIQUELY INTERACTIVE SCIENCE EXHIBITION OPENS IN CORK
The Lifetime Lab in Cork opens its doors today to Planet Aqua, a non-profit Irish initiative to inspire primary school children to action in protecting our planet's most valuable resource – water. The initiative, co-ordinated by AQUA TT - the Aquaculture Training and Technology organisation - consists of two pilot exhibitions, a teacher's manual and a website at www.planetaqua.ie. It is designed to stimulate young visitors to investigate the role of water on the planet through a virtual scientific "mission under sea", showing how we interact with water, how it benefits us and how life would be impossible without it.
The Cork exhibition will run through to the 10th of February before moving to Dublin at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham from 20th February to 1st March. Admission by pre-booked school groups is free and both events are open to the general public on weekends 10am – 4pm (4th – 5th Feb. in Cork & 25th – 26th Feb. in Dublin).
The many chilling global and regional aftermaths of the tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina and the resulting floods in New Orleans in 2005, have raised a host of questions about human impact on climate change and the aquatic environment.
"With more than 7,500 kilometres of coastline, a seafood industry employing more than 15,000 people, the undertaking of a National Seabed Survey and the advent of the Water Framework Directive, to name just a few, the children of Ireland have good reason to learn more about water " said Mark Norman, Planet Aqua Steering Committee Chairman and Director of AquaTT.
Planet Aqua provides 5th and 6th class teachers with user-friendly support material that will enable them to explore and incorporate aquatic examples into the classroom. The resources and concepts are firmly grounded in the primary Social, Environmental and Scientific Education (SESE): Science curriculum.
Planet Aqua is organised by the AQUATT organisation and supported by the European Union, Discover Science and Engineering, the Marine Institute, the National Centre for Technology and Education, BIM, the Primary Curriculum Support Programme, the National Centre for Curriculum Assessment, the EPA, the Central Fisheries Board, An Taisce, Taidghe Mara Teo and the Lifetime Lab.
ENDS
CONTACT David Murphy , 086.858.2487, david@aquatt.ie or Erin McVeigh, 087.289.0919, erin@aquatt.ie
Office: (T) 01.644.9008, (F) 01.644.9009 or visit www.planetaqua.ie "About" section
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The launch of Planet Aqua in Cork will take place at 9.30 am, 3 February 2006, at the Lifetime Lab, Old Cork Waterworks, Lee Road.
2. There will also be a launch of Planet Aqua in Dublin at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Military Road, Dublin 8; a press release will be issued to confirm the date and time.
3. Both the Lifetime Lab & Royal Hospital Kilmainham have wheelchair user access.
4. The main challenge for water quality in Ireland is eutrophication (oxygen depletion arising from excess inputs of phosphorus from all sources). The extent of eutrophication in the river system has been increasing consistently since the 1970s and has been identified by the EPA as probably the most serious environmental pollution problem in Ireland (Water Framework Directive, Ireland)
5. You can waste up to 5 litres of water every minute by leaving a tap running; a washing machine or dishwasher cycle uses up to 100 litres of water; a dripping tap can waste up to 30 litres of water per week and brushing your teeth with the tap running wastes almost 9 litres per minute; a bath alone uses up to 80 litres of water, flushing the toilet can use up to 13 litres of water and a washing machine uses 80 litres of water per cycle whether it is full or not (Sustainable Energy Ireland)
6. The Planet Aqua teacher's manual will be delivered to all 3,278 national primary schools in Ireland in the coming months. The pilot exhibitions will reach up to 6,000 children. The website will soon provide an educational virtual exhibition for students and a teachers' resource centre, which can be readily accessed with the rollout of broadband to classrooms nationwide or from home.
7. In May and June 2004, AquaTT arranged for a selection of students from two schools from Cork, Scoil Eoin and Scoil Mhuire, to travel to the Algarve region of Portugal, where they participated in a week of activities, such as investigating the environment, learning about conservation, and sharing information about Ireland's environment with Portuguese students. These students will be on hand at the launch in Cork.
8. A roll-out of the Planet Aqua exhibitions and sustainability of the website and teacher's manual will depend on the availability of public or private funding in 2006/7.