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Scienceworks offers lendable kits and professional development sessions to build capacity of local libraries to deliver highly engaging science and STEM experiences for their audiences. Local libraries are the perfect partner for this given the vital role they play as neighbourhood hubs that can effectively engage their community.
Scienceworks has partnered with Public Libraries Victoria and the Royal Society of Victoria to support science engagement in local communities.
Scienceworks offers one-off and multi-session training for librarians. These professional development sessions help librarians build skills, confidence, knowledge, and networks for developing and delivering science and STEM programs for local communities.
All training happens online via video conference and is highly interactive. Sessions are tailored to support the specific context and interests of participants, including a strong focus responding to the diverse audiences that libraries work with.
Register for the Taster Session here.
Taster sessions offer one-off professional development training for librarians who are interested to dip their toe in the water and have a taste of the philosophy and pedagogy of Scienceworks’ programs.
These one-off, interactive sessions take you through two or three science activities you can run for your library. We also look at how to facilitate activities so your audience gets the most out of them.
The next Taster Session is on Thursday 14 July 2022, 9.30–11.30am.
This session will focus on providing information about National Science Week 2022 and provide support for libraries that are already delivering or interested in delivering programs for National Science Week.
To participate in the program, you will need a stable internet connection and a webcam – all training will be delivered via video conference.
This series follows on from the Taster sessions that ran from October 2021 to March 2022 and is available to anyone who participated in a taster session. If you didn't attend a taster session but are still interested, get in touch with Kate Barnard at [email protected]
This in-depth training offers mentoring from a Scienceworks educator who will support you to develop and deliver a science program during National Science Week 2022. There is a lot of flexibility around what, how, and when your program is delivered, as long as at least part of it falls within National Science Week which runs from 13 to 20 August 2022.
The training program will build your skills and confidence through highly interactive and engaging sessions. The sessions will cover:
Session content will be flexible to cover the needs and interests of all participants. We will support you to develop and deliver a program that uniquely suits your library's context and target audience(s).
The training series consists of three 2-hour sessions which run fortnightly, plus the option of a one-on-one meeting with the facilitator to discuss your program. Dates and times for the group sessions are:
Thursday 23 June, 9.30–11.30am
Thursday 7 July, 9.30–11.30am
Thursday 21 July, 9.30–11.30am
The science programs developed by participants must be delivered wholly or partly during National Science Week (13-21 August 2022).
To participate in the program, you will need a stable internet connection and a webcam – all training will be delivered via video conference. You will also need to commit to the following:
We will aim to accommodate all who are interested in the training, however if there are more people interested than places available, priority will be given to libraries in regional Victoria.
There is no cost to participating libraries. This project is funded by the Inspiring Victoria Program, managed by the Royal Society of Victoria.
Because we have a limited number of places, please let us know if your situation changes and you can no longer participate - we will then offer your place to another librarian.
Here are some comments from participants in previous training series:
I’m overflowing with ideas & ways to expand STEM to all ages at our library!
[The best part of the program was] being able to network and be part of a group of contacts across various other regional Victorian libraries. Being able to share ideas and resources, seeing what other libraries are doing has been great. Also having access to the expertise of Museums Victoria staff has been invaluable.
[The most useful part of the program was] the wonderful ideas, inspiration and resources shared. Thank you!
[The presenter]... was a fantastic convenor & made me realise it didn’t have to be hard to introduce STEM to my preschool program. Big thanks for this excellent training series.
Please contact Kate Barnard at Scienceworks by emailing [email protected]
Does your library want to run science and STEM programs but you don’t have any equipment or don’t know where to start?
Scienceworks has developed lending kits covering three topics:
These kits provide materials, resources, and activities for running science and STEM programs with library audiences.
The kits have been developed as a parallel project to the Library Science Champions Training Series – workshops with librarians to build their skills and capacity to develop and deliver science programs for their communities.
Please complete this form [LINK] to enquire about availability of your chosen kit.
This kit includes three different robots – BlueBots, MBots, and Spheros – and activities suitable for different audiences.
When we introduce coding and robotics in a learning setting we introduce children to highly engaging activities that develop the confidence and skills needed for working with digital technologies.
Robotics and coding also offer a way for children to begin to understand things they encounter every day such as sensors, electronics and computer systems.
In this kit, we encourage participants to develop their STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills by engaging in engineering-based problem solving. There are many different types of engineering however all involve similar STEM skills.
This kit focuses on civil and mechanical engineering.
Through these activities, we want to encourage curiosity, experimentation, problem solving, collaboration, and a sense of agency in participants. We do this through creating open ended, context-based problems that have multiple solutions and different ways of engaging.
Astronomy is the study of everything in the Universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere. That includes objects we can see with our naked eyes, like the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars. It also includes objects we can only see with telescopes or other instruments, like faraway galaxies and tiny particles. And it even includes questions about things we can't see at all, like dark matter and dark energy.
This kit includes materials to explore different aspects of astronomy and encourage creativity.
This project is funded until May 2023 by the Inspiring Victoria Program, managed by the Royal Society of Victoria. This funding covers lending fee and one-way postage of the kit. Libraries are responsible for covering the cost of return shipping. From June 2023 the kits will be available to borrow for a modest lending fee.
Please complete this form [LINK] to enquire about availability of your chosen kit.
Please contact Rosa Zwier at Scienceworks by emailing [email protected]
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