2004 Science Week Ireland

November 7-14, 2004

“Science Week Ireland” 13 Nov. 2011 Briefing for Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education

16th November 2011Peter Brabazon, Director, Discover Science and Engineering

Forfás, Wilton Park House, Dublin 2tel +353 1 6073008, mob +353 87 2435 867,

www.discover-science.iepeter.brabazon@forfas.ie

1. Discover Science and Engineering“National Integrated Awareness Programme”

• Launched October 2003

• Funded by Dept. Jobs Enterprise and Innovation (€1.9M in 2011) and Managed by Forfás

- Mission is to contribute to Ireland’s continued growth and development as an economy and as a society that has an active and informed interest and involvement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

- Overall objectives are to increase the numbers of students studying the physical sciences, to promote a positive attitude to careers in STEM and to foster a greater understanding of science and its value to Irish society.

- Target audience for DSE includes students at all levels, (with a particular focus on primary and secondary) their parents and teachers, as well as the wider public.

2. Science Week Ireland 201113th to 20th November

www.scienceweek.ie

• Nationwide STEM Awareness Week• Theme “The Chemistry of Life” • 100 key partners (including 18 Corporate Partners)• 500 events designed to engage young people• 115,000+ direct participants• Events at Libraries, Factories, Higher Education etc.• Support funding to regional events in Sligo, Galway,

Mayo, Limerick, Cork and Waterford• Lecture Series in Dublin at Science Gallery,

Belvedere College, National Gallery, RIA

3. DSE Summary of Activity 2010

Primary Science and Maths – 5,000 teachers trained– 92% of primary schools– 250,000 pupils– 400 Excellence Awards/yrSecond Level Science– 200 secondary schools– 25 Tutors

Science Week (115,000 participants)

- 100 partners (505 plus events)Working through Partnerships( STEPS to Engineering, CEIA, BT Young Scientist, Intel – “Scifest”, Abbott, Science Gallery, ESA)

Mathematics Initiatives – 6 + modulesLeveraging 3 Euro for every 1 Euro

4. Additional Focus for 2011 !!• Support for Project Maths • Additional Engineering Outreach• Second level pilots and Careers• Leveraging partner input at €4 to €1 from DSE• Investigating more European programmes to add value for DSE• Engaging Industry to “open doors” to show young people what a career

is like

These areas were identified for additional focus/funding by:

SMART Economy report ( 2008)

Innovation Task Force (2009)

Evaluation Report of Discover Science and Engineering (2009)

Project Maths Implementation Support Group (June 2010)

“Government for National Recovery 2011 – 2016”

THANK YOU! www.discover-science.ie

www.discover-science.ie

2004 Science Week Ireland

November 7-14, 2004 Other Background InformationForfás, Wilton Park House, Dublin 2

tel +353 1 6073008, mob +353 87 2435 867, www.discover-science.ie

peter.brabazon@forfas.ie

1. Young People’s Programmes supporting Curriculum Change

Primary School Science Initiatives • Discover Primary Science with Maths Modules• Awards of Science and Maths Excellence• GreenWave.ie in Europe from 2011

Secondary School Science Initiatives • Discover Sensors (Junior Cert. Science)• Scifest (with Intel and 14 IoTs)• Careers (CareersPortal.ie and the DSE site

MyScienceCareer.ie)

2. Awareness Programmes supporting Careers and JobsEvents

• Science Week ’10 - (13 Nov ‘11)– 505 events nationwide on third of previous budget

• St. Patrick’s Festival(up to 3,500 visitors to “Science Zone”)

• BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition– Sponsored Maths Award and Maths Workshop

• Main sponsor and partner of Maths & Engineering Weeks

Communications• Internet

– Usage increasing and part of new internet strategy– Partnering with Careersportal.ie from launch Apr. ‘08

3. Partnership

• Strategic Partnerships– “STEPS to Engineering" of Engineers Ireland

– Cork Electronic Industry Association (CEIA)

– Scifest with Intel

– “Six cities” for Science Week, etc.

– Mallow Development Project

– Other

• Exploration Station (Board Member)– Interactive Science Centre interpreting the brief of Discover

Science and Engineering

• Dublin City of Science 2012

- Chairman of Public Engagement Working Group and other support

Working through Partnerships

Business• Science Week - Microsoft, Abbott, etc• Scifest - Intel plus BT, Abbott, local industry etc.• Young Scientist, - RDS• “On-line Careers” - ICT Ireland/Irish Software Association

Institutional• Various shows - Science Gallery• City of Science - Chief Scientific Adviser• STEPS to Engineering - Engineers Ireland

Educational - Teachers, incl Training Colleges

- DES, NCCA (Science and Maths), NCTE

- ISTA, INTO

Commercial Contracts - Drury, AMAS, Xwerx, H2, Begley etc

Common “Key Skills” for bothEducation & Business Partners

• Information Processing– Incl. Recording, organising, summarising and integrating information

• Critical and Creative thinking– Incl. Examining patterns and relationships, classifying and ordering

information

• Communicating– Incl. Engaging in dialogue, listening attentively and eliciting opinions, views

and emotions

• Working With Others– Incl. Working with others in a variety of contexts with different goals and

purposes

• Being Personally effective– Identifying, evaluating and achieving personal goals, including developing and

evaluating actions plans

(National Council for Curriculum

and Assessment (NCCA))

4. Space and Mathematics Initiatives

• European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO)– Teacher support. Incl Primary School modules

– Using the existing DSE networks for delivery

– “Our Place in Space” theme of Science Week 2010

• Maths – Primary School pilot-projects – Awareness Campaign – Maths Week plus new presenters– Support to others, particularly Maths Week & Project maths

Awareness Outputs• Discover Primary Science (DPS) a flagship project of DSE with

5,00 teachers in 92% of primary schools and 135,000 pupils benefiting annually

• 2010 saw 128 pieces of DPS media – Combined circulation 2,309,667

• Sensors - 1,000 in SciFest Awards 2010, with all 14 Institutes of technology, funded by DSE and Intel.

• April to June 2010 SciFest received 117 placements– Combined circulation of 1,630,200

• Science Week is Ireland’s biggest annual promotion of science115,000 participants at 505 Science events (2010) involving 100 partner organisations.– “The Chemistry of Life” 13th – 20th November 2011

• Internet- 11 sites supporting each project area including all content, dissemination and registration etc.

- Cost and effectiveness benefits

Science Week Media Results

2010 2009 2008 2007

Total 238 222 314 92

National Print

35 35 39 22

Radio 15 15 19 13

TV 7 5 5 11

Regional Print

181 167 211 46

Career Advice- The Information Gap

70% of 18 year olds are continuing into third level, as did 35% of their parents or 15% of grandparents

www.discover-science.ie