Poster presented on March 6-8, 2002 at the conference on Communicating the Future: Best Practices in Communication of Science and Technology to the Public, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and NIST. Poster topics were selected as "best practices" through a formal peer review by a committee of distinguished science writers, educators, and researchers.

Experion®: Science on the Move in Flanders, Belgium
Program conducted by: Technopolis

Summary
In 1995 we wanted to set up a project proving to pupils in their first year of secondary school (age 13) that science is related to everyday life and not boring. For this very critical public we had to create a challenging content (hands-on experiments) in a nice cover. The practical problem of bringing pupils and project together was solved by transporting our project in a lorry covering a 750 sq. ft space once folded open.

Experion® was born.

Experienced in educational outreach, we knew we needed:

• a compelling and appealing story to present the experiments;
• a final target: a "problem" that is "solved" if the experiments are conducted accurately; and
• experiments dealing with topics corresponding to secondary education.

Several stories and experiments were tested. The result of three years of brainstorming, building, and testing was revealed in October 1998. The pupils enter Experion® in a mysterious atmosphere. In true "Mission Impossible" style they receive their mission from a very secret organization through "live" satellite connection: "disclose the secrets of a huge object which fell down on Earth after collision with a satellite." In teams of two or three, they carry out tasks dealing with geography, language, biology, physics, electricity, creativity... Each team carries out three of the nine experiments. Their success in accomplishing an experiment provides them with (part of) a picture. Two hours of piecing together the picture leads to a code that prevents the disintegration of the wreckage.

Carrying out the program contained two major parallel parts: design and construction of the lorry (carried out externally under internal supervision) and conception, design, and construction of the interior (a mix of internal expertise on content and external expertise on design). Coordination was done by one project manager.

Experion® is evaluated after each session. Teachers think highly of it because of the availability of experiments and the way science is "sold." The best proof of the success is the change of attitude in pupils during the session, changing from being skeptic to real die hards wanting to "save the wreckage." One even fainted during the session.
If we had to do it again …
1. We would change the way the computers communicate (now linked in a network) and look for other (wireless) means of data transfer (chips, …).
2. We underestimated the effort and cost of exploitation. For this reason, the original plan of going on school grounds was replaced with parking on a central location:

• building up Experion® and setting up the experiments takes two to three hours
• choosing locations is important because of the size of the lorry; and
• personnel have to travel and stay overnight.

3. We would consider the changing mentality in the course of the first year of secondary school (outgrowing childhood). The skepticism about the story increases as the school year progresses: luckily it doesn't survive during the sessions. At the end of the school year, the experiments become easier to accomplish.

Sponsor
Science and Innovation Administration

Facts and figures
Starting costs: Lorry: 340.000 $
Content: 290.000 $
Annual exploitation costs: Total: 110.000 $
Staff and expenses (2FT): 70.000 $
Transport: 19.000 $
Repairs and maintenance: 6.000 $
Communication and marketing: 8.000 $
Miscellaneous: 7.000 $
Pupils reached each year: 6.000 pupils on 15 locations
www.technopolis.be/en

Children's Reactions

• 'Is this a real wreckage?'
• 'Exciting …!'
• 'Cool!'
• 'We saved the wreckage, what now?'
• 'Can we come back?'

Why?

• Bringing science and technology closer to people
• Practical and recreational
• Unconscious learning process
• Starting by own environment and interests
• Science Information and Innovation plan of the government of Flanders

Where?

• Flanders - Belgium
• 2 medium-sized cities per province
• centrally situated
• neutral parking

Contact

Erik Jacquemyn, CEO of Technopolis
Technologielaan
2800 MECHELEN
Belgium
Tel: + 32 (0) 15 34 20 20
Fax: + 32 (0) 15 34 20 10
e-mail: erik@technopolis.be

Web Site

www.technopolis.be/en

Back to Best Practices home page

Back to Best Practices posters page

Created: 5/25/02
Last updated:8/17/02
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov

Students receive instructions about their secret rescue mission from HQ.

Experion® students conduct remote "surgery."

Learning about circuits and energy to advance the "mission."

Photos below show unfolding of the Experion® truck in 7 steps