InTech Interactive Technology Exhibition

01962 863791

http://www.hants.gov.uk/leisure/transprt/intec h/

Why didn't we visit these places like this when we were at school? InTech Interactive Technology Exhibition is a great educational and hands-on centre. InTech is truly interactive and more importantly it is fun - for both adult assistants, teachers and yes the children as well!

The InTech Exhibition is designed and run by the local education authority. Its aim is an aid to assist the National Curriculum in Science and Technology for both primary and secondary school levels. What also is good about the set up is that they have their own buses so local schools don't have to hire their own transport - thus costs are per pupil is £2.50 per head, with all assistants getting in for free!

InTech is truly interactive and hands-on. There are no old dinosaurs giving guided tours boring the pants off you. The place is wall to wall exhibits for the children and adults to explore technology and science. The exhibits cover a large number of subjects such as light, sound, magnets, friction, weights, measures, teamwork, biology, the weather system, bridges, pulleys, cranes, wind tunnels and stress (mechanical & mental - in charge of a group of eager children) etc.

The exhibits are set up really well and most manage in small groups of 4-5 people at a time. Light is explored with beams of light with the use of prisms and liquid allowing the children to discover first hand things like refraction, reflection, diffraction, electromagnetic spectrum etc. Sound is explored through using Morse code to spell out names, telephones to converse with your friends across the room in a different group, changing the tone and pitch of frequencies. Wind and aerodynamics is explored through the use of a wind tunnel (which didn't work for our group - maybe we didn't read the simple instructions) and the smoke tunnel. The smoke tunne
l allowed the children to experiment by placing objects in the path of the smoke jets and actually observing drag (roof racks on model cars & wings), eddies, aerodynamics (aircraft wings and spoilers on cars). The mechanical exhibits seem to be my group's favourites. They worked really well to build a free-standing bridge. They operated a huge wooden robotic arm (lift, lower, rotation, grabbing) to lift blocks and then used a large wooden crane (lift, lower, rotation, hook) to stack blocks. My group carried out a full-scale mining and production line for chickpeas by using a seed drill, excavator, conveyor belt etc. There were telephones to communicate with other groups across the room, pulleys, levers, and cogwheels the lot. All the exhibits adequately reinforced science and technology to the children without the need for a textbook or lecture - which has to be very good. All exhibits had very clear instructions and diagrams illustrating what the piece of equipment was and how to use it. My group usually bypassed the instructions and decided to take the hands-on approach. When the kids did get stuck they looked at the instructions or asked for help.

Most of the exhibits were in good working order, although some had minor problems with things not working 100%. This didn't deject from the day out. I was looking after a group of girls but they had as much fun as the boys did. I had extremes of introverts and extroverts within my group and it suited extremely well both sets of behaviours. I thoroughly enjoyed going around the exhibition. I enjoyed seeing first hand stuff that I learnt at school in the way of textbooks now physically working. If I had been to a place like this when I was at school I would have enjoyed science and technology even more. The children even made their own proper badges. They wore them with pride and showed them off to all their friends when they returned to school.

If you are in the Winchester area or know of an in
teractive science and technology exhibition then I would thoroughly recommend going to it! These are the sort of places are extremely helpful to children who enjoy science or for those who struggle to learn the concepts of science. Very highly recommended by everyone who went on the trip - children, assistants and teachers.


Opening hours:
Mon - Fri: 09:30 - 16:30
Sat: 09:30 - 16:00