Links and opportunities

Abstract

At the end of June a new website was launched to enable young people to get involved with the UK's national Foresight programme and to help shape the future. `School of the Future - Young people with Foresight' will provide young people with the means to contribute to the national programme which develops scenarios of the future, looking at possible needs, opportunities or threats and deciding what should be done now to make sure these challenges can be met. The site can be found at www.asset.org.uk and it will be run by the Association for Schools' Science, Engineering and Technology (ASSET).The latest round of Foresight began in April and panels are taking a look at the aging population, crime prevention, built environment and transport, aerospace and systems, energy and the natural environment, information, communications and media, materials and sustainable development, amongst other topics. Information about Foresight activities and events can be obtained from the Office of Science and Technology or the Foresight Knowledge pool at www.foresight.gov.uk. The pool will act as a unique and freely accessible electronic library of views and information about the future that young people will be able to draw on for assistance and reference material.Futher assistance for students will also be on offer from museums and art galleries from now on, thanks to additional funding which has been made available over the next three years. Forty museums and galleries will share up to £2.5m for projects intended to improve students' literacy, numeracy and science skills as well as their understanding of history and art. Examples of the imaginative projects which have been put forward include use of the large collection of steam engines at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester to assist boys' science and literacy skills. The Museum of London will be working with over 2000 schools in the South East to provide materials for the schools' own mini-museums on the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings in Britain; and the Football museum in Preston plans to help local pupils with their literacy and numeracy skills by preparing newspaper reports and football results tables. In this role of supporting education the various bodies will be both helping teachers to deliver the curriculum and also bringing their own cultural resources to life for the students.On a related theme, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich has just introduced its own Open Museum course to prepare adults with an interest in astronomy to study for a GCSE in the subject. The course begins in October and lasts for nine months, covering topics such as the Earth and Moon, solar system, stars, galaxies and observing techniques. Those undertaking the course will be able to use the Observatory's 28 inch refractor and a Meade LX10 Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope. Further information on the course and the Open Museum is available from Joy Affection (tel: 0181 312 6747) or from the NMM website at www.nmm.ac.uk.