You may recognize the famous Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, whose best known work is “Pictures at an Exhibition”.  But the pictures that follow are from a totally different exhibition, that of the Association for Science Education Annual Conference 2011, held at the University of Reading from 5^th to 8^th January.
 

The Skybolt

If one had paid no attention to the marquee on the central lawn, then one’s attention might have been drawn by this rocket parked outside the Quondam Physics Department.




This was the chief exhibit of SPACE4SCHOOLS, and I had a good chat with their exhibitors, who tell me that their next rocket will be three times as big, and will be able to carry a person briefly into space.

The Bugs

Next to the table where I got my pass to go round the exhibition was a gentleman selling large invertebrates, with this tray:





and a smaller dish of edibles.  The roasted mealworms, I understand, taste like stale oatmeal, but were very nutritious.  As for the ant abdomens ….

Another exhibit inside the tent itself had some very large brightly coloured scorpions, but my camera battery had run out …

The Tree that almost wasn’t

Kew Gardens had a stand inside the tent, with a small Wollemi Pine (not a proper pine but related to the Monkey Puzzle.)  These trees were only known as fossils, but a small stand of them (possibly coppiced from one or two individual plants) were discovered in Australia in 1994.  Next to it were some Ginkgo foliage and some Cauliflower floret cultures.  Which was the odd one out?  The Ginkgo, since the Wollemias are derived from one individual tree and the Cauliflower florets are clones.

Drive it away!

keen2learn, a Yorkshire company, were promoting the Clean Energy Trainer from Heliocentris, a Berlin-based company.  This car can be powered by the solar cells on the back, or by hydrogen in the fuel cell / electrolytic unit at the front.  With a tungsten lamp shining on it from the left, it has just run into the control box.  It is suggested that a class could race these cars!

Generate your own!

My favourite, other than the rocket, was this stand from NaRiKa, who have been supplying schools in Japan for nearly 100 years.  Here we have a Genecon hand generator which can be switched between the traditional light bulb, the compact fluorescent, and the light-emitting diode lamp.



With the traditional bulb, one had to put in quite an effort to get it up to speed and even see a glow from the filament.  With the compact fluorescent, it was must easier to turn the handle, but one had to get up quite a speed to get the lamp to strike.  Much lower speed and effort was needed for the LED, which wins every time.

One could leave it at that, but there’s quite a lot of electrical theory to be got out of this simple demonstration, if one knows one’s onions.  And you really get a feel for it, unlike with all those circuit diagrams ....