On a Sunday in October 2019, four DTA scientists headed to the Navy Museum at Torpedo Bay, Devonport, Auckland to be part of the fun which is Fun Palace.(external link)
Ben Withy and Brent Martin showed how with some simple materials, you can break down the individual colours of a felt tip pen to see all the colours which make up tints and shades in one pen. They set up their laboratory in the Navy Museum and met about 1200 youngsters who were fascinated by how simple but rewarding the experiments were. There were plenty of chances to see different colours and kids quickly learned that one colour can be made up of many different tints
Outside, Samantha Rodrigues and Adam Dooley of the Human Systems Group, set up an agility course which saw kid after kid have a go at the course. They each had to sprint a short distance, duck under and jump over barriers, make a quick side-step around a cone and then a rapid return to the start-finish line. The course is designed to test theagility of service-persons in different uniforms and wearing different pieces of equipment. This allows NZDF to make better decisions when buying new kit for their people and to better understand how wearing equipment can reduce the agility and maneuverability of a person.
The purpose of a Fun Palace is to share skills in a wide range of areas and to connect communities.
At the end of the day almost 2000 children visited the Navy Museum and learned about science, how to have fun while learning about science and how it can be applied to everyday life.
I never knew there were so many colours in one blue felt-tip!
