18 June 2009

Kids go crazy for literacy and science

Photo call - 10.30am on Monday at Sensation - schools will be meeting Gill Arbuthnott. Schools have given prior permission to take photographs.

More than 300 school children will descend on Sensation, Dundee Science Centre, in the next few days as part of a project to promote literacy and an interest in science held in conjunction with the Dundee Literary Festival and Dundee City Council.

Children from 10 primary schools across Dundee have been given copies of the book Crazy Creatures by Gill Arbuthnott, and have benefited from a programme developed by the science centre, the Council's Leisure and Communities and Education Departments, and the Dundee Literary Festival.

The children will now get the opportunity to meet the author and ask her questions at the event, which is taking place as part of the Literary Festival.

The children’s teachers have worked with the various departments to refine lesson plans that promote literacy and science.

Education workers from Sensation have gone into classrooms and taken DNA from each child which they have then made into a necklace as a way of getting children thinking about what DNA is, and how it makes us who we are.

This is the second year of the project. Last year, 90 children took part in the pilot project, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback meant that extra funding was provided to roll the project out across more schools.

Anna Day, Director of the Dundee Literary Festival said, 'We take literacy very seriously at the festival and wanted to include as many children as possible. We're working with teachers to provide a fun way of getting children into books - and helping them stay that way.'

Hannah Crookes, Director of Science Learning and Public Engagement at Sensation says, 'This project is a fantastic opportunity to integrate science and literacy in a really engaging way, and support the new Curriculum for Excellence.'

Moira Foster from Dundee City Council said, 'We are always looking for unusual ways of bringing books and young people together. Generally, boys are less keen on reading than girls and prefer non-fiction to fiction. Also, girls are less keen on science and facts than boys are. So, by using an accessible and highly entertaining book, Crazy Creatures, by award winning publisher Barrington Stoke we aim to let girls see that science and facts can be exciting, and boys that books are fun.'

The Literary Festival is supported by The Russell Trust, The Landmark Hotel, The Apex Hotel and Event Scotland.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk