Press Releases

Bionic Ears and Bloodhounds set to wow pupils at the National Waterfront Museum

Following its overwhelming success over the last few years, national charity Deafness Research UK will be bringing its innovative Bionic Ear Roadshow to the National Waterfront Museum for local school pupils on Thursday 17 March.

As part of the Museum’s commitment to National Science & Engineering Week, the show aims to teach youngsters about how delicate their hearing is, how it can be damaged and what they can do to protect it.

More than 400 pupils from across the city will take part in the workshop which features the world’s largest ear. During the show, the presenter will construct a model to highlight the different parts of the ear which is over 22ft tall and 116 times the size of a normal human year. Through this interactive demonstration the pupils will discover exactly how the ear works.

“We’re delighted to welcome the Bionic Ear Show to the Museum,” said Formal Education Officer, Mandy Westcott. “It’ll be a great opportunity for us to celebrate National Science & Engineering Week and for pupils to find out about how important sound is for communication.

“The show links with the Museum’s natural history specimens which will give pupils the opportunity to think about the shapes of ears in nature and how the senses of sight and sound work. We’ll also be introducing pupils to British sign language and how this is used within the Museum's displays to communicate history and heritage to visitors.”

As well as the ear show, the pupils will take part in a hands-on activity led by engineers at Swansea University and the team from the Wales Bloodhound Education Centre. Pupils will be bringing to life some of the design challenges of the 1000mph Bloodhound SuperSonic Car as they build and race their very own concepts in a fun-fuelled model car prototyping activity.

“The aim of the Bloodhound Engineering Adventure is to encourage a new generation of young people to be thrilled by science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Dr Clare Wood of the College of Engineering at Swansea University.

“Our computational engineering research has played a key role in the aerodynamic design of the 1000mph Bloodhound SuperSonic Car. Together with the Wales Bloodhound Education Centre and Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW), we are aiming to bring the excitement and inspiration of this amazing British project to young people throughout Wales.”

Notes to editor

For more information about the Bionic Ear Show visit www.bionicearshow.org

For more information about the National Waterfront Museum, contact Marie Szymonski on 01792 638970.

For more information about National Science & Engineering Week visit http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/NSEW

Admission to Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales sites is free thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.

Amgueddfa Cymru operates seven national museums across Wales.

· National Museum Cardiff

· St Fagans: National History Museum

· National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon

· Big Pit: National Coal Museum

· National Wool Museum, Dre-fach

· National Slate Museum, Llanberis

· National Waterfront Museum, Swansea