Last month my colleagues and I embarked on what we are proud to now call our ‘annual trip to Hong Kong’, it now being the 3rd year of the outreach teams involvement with the British Council’s Science Alive festival. As team members though, it was the first time any of us had visited Asia’s world city.
This year we were pleased to bring the exciting, explosion-filled Material World show to the Hong Kong Science Museum and schools across the region. We also investigated chemical reactions and how things behave by showing families how to make slime and their very own fizzy bath bombs using everyday materials. Check out our website to try out the bath bombs for yourself.
One of the major challenges of delivering this kind of event internationally is anticipating the response of the audience. Translating one person’s idea of fun, a complex explanation and or even a cheesy joke can be tricky when everything goes through an interpreter. Not everyone thinks wearing a nappy on your head to investigate polymers is funny!
One significant change for us this year was the opportunity for our Learning Resources team to deliver teacher development workshops. Running workshops for primary and secondary school teachers over the course of a week was rewarding, tiring and most of all a great success for the team. Working with a variety of teachers from both international and local government schools gave the team an insight into the often surprising similarities and differences between Hong Kong and UK education.
Amongst all the hard work we did get to do some sightseeing and sample the delights of this busy, dazzling city. We tucked in to some amazing food, shopped for bargains on the markets, were surprised by hidden city temples and took many a selfie with that iconic Hong Kong skyline.
We even learned a few things on the way…here are some fascinating Hong Kong science facts you never knew:
The Bank of China Tower is a testament to the triangle. The tower is formed from 4 prism shaped towers, which take advantage of the strength of a triangular structure. This means no load bearing structures are required inside the building and the rooms are as big as they can possibly be.
The Hong Kong Science Museum boasts the largest energy transfer machine in the world. It is 22 meters high and occupies all four storeys of the museum.
Hong Kong citizen Charles K. Kao (also known as the Godfather of Broadband) pioneered the use of fibre optic cables for communication. Ground breaking discoveries made by him paved the way for the communication systems we have today.
The Mong Kok district of Hong Kong is officially the most densely populated area of the world. There are 130,000 people per square kilometre! This demonstrates just how important maximising space through clever engineering has been for Hong Kong.
Riding the Victoria Peak Tram will mess with your brain. Scientists at the University of Hong Kong have discovered that passengers riding the steep, 120 year old tramway to Victoria Peak are likely to experience an illusion where the skyscrapers of Hong Kong will appear to lean to one side as if about to fall!
To find out more about the outreach team and book a visit from us, have a look at the website here. For science activities to do at home or in the classroom have a look at our fun resources here.