Developing Experts at Norwich Science Festival 2018

Developing Experts are proud to be the learning sponsor for the Norwich Science Festival 2018. Every day, we will be hosting a stand in the middle of the Forum offering fun science activities and experiments. You can find out more by visiting the website.

Throughout the Norwich Science Festival, you can get those burning science questions off your chest with #Asktheexpert. Send us any questions you have on nature, biology, and ecology. Ideally as a video on social media, written, or drawn but the format doesn’t matter just the scientific intrigue. #Asktheexpert.

At the end of the Norwich Science Festival, we will be immortalising one of these questions by creating an expert video and an experiment giving you the best answer we can. The winner will receive a 12-month subscription to our Science platform a really unique prize that will ignite your love of science. 

Enter on social media with the #asktheexpert – or pop in and see the guys at the forum and ask us in person. 

We’re putting scientists of the future "in the frame” by taking a #Scienceselfie to show of the aspirational scientists of tomorrow. Resident science experts will also be on hand to talk about what inspired them to pursue a career in science and what has kept that passion growing.

So what’s going on during Norwich Science Festival....?

Friday 19th October - Oceans & Water Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

We will focus on the importance of water, including its storage, transport and uses. Water is a valuable resource because we need it for cooking, cleaning, farming and generating electricity. However, when the supply of water is limited, what activities should be given priority?  We will explore this challenge with a simple task about water transport, which you can get involved in at the Norwich Science Festival.

Saturday 20th October – Nature Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

Our “glowing nature” stand will focus on bioluminescence and the interaction of light with living things. You will be given the opportunity to paint with chlorophyll, the chemical responsible for giving plants their green colour, and examine how our live scorpions react to blue light.

Sunday 21st October – Physics Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

For Physics Day at the Norwich Science Fetival, our stand will focus on energy conversion and there will be the chance to make your own Rube Goldberg machine. We will also show you how to make “explosive stick weaves” that demonstrate the conversion of elastic potential energy to kinetic energy.

Monday 22nd October – Astronomy Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

We’ll be shooting off to the stars on this day of the Norwich Science Festival, looking at space and spectrometers. There will be the chance to view the world through diffraction grating glasses and use a simple spectrometer, a device used by scientists to analyse light, made from a cardboard box and an old CD. This can be easily made at home ask our team!

Tuesday 23rd October – Engineering Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

Focusing on the use of machines to improve our lives, our stand will offer you the opportunity to challenge your friends and family to a (slightly biased) tug-of-war game involving cranks and pulleys. You will also be challenged to make the best crane out of simple building blocks.

Wednesday 24th October – Technology Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

Today at the Norwich Science Festival we’ll be examining the electromagnetic spectrum, a range of different wavelengths of visible and invisible light we use every day, often without realising it. We’ll have an image of the electromagnetic spectrum and a collection of household items - will you be able to match up the items to the correct region of the spectrum?

Thursday 25th October – Chemistry Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

Come and explore the science of acids and alkalis. Our stand will focus on the pH scale and provide examples of acids and alkalis found around the home. There will be the opportunity to measure the pH of household items using universal indicator paper and learn more about the process of ocean acidification using a natural indicator: red cabbage! All at the Norwich Science Festival today.

Friday 26th October - Health & Medicine Day – The Forum, 10 am to 4 pm

We’ll be giving you the opportunity to get under your own skin for Health & Medicine Day! The stand will focus on your own anatomy and common medical terms. There will be the chance to learn about the different parts of the skeleton and how our vital organs are organised within the body.

Saturday 27th October - Family Science Day – Norwich Cathedral, 10:30 am to 3 pm

Our final stand at the Norwich Science Festival will explore the science of superhero powers. Come and become a superhero by making inanimate objects float through the use of magnets and static electricity.

As part of the Festival we will be filming in The Forum  every day so please get in touch if you are interested in producing short science videos about your work. The videos will be 2-4 minutes long as an informal interview and could focus on your research and/or career in STEM – the edited footage will be shared with you afterwards.