School Activities

    Our school activities are suitable for all ages and levels including primary, secondary and A-Level. We offer workshops, hands-on activities and a teacher support service to help you get the most out of your visit. All school services are free, but must be booked in advance.

Darwin Centre

    Find out who you really are and where you come from in our interactive films about evolution, described by Sir David Attenborough.

Hands-on Activities

    Get up close and personal with Museum in these hands-on activities, where you can handle real specimens from our collections. Hundreds of real, natural history specimens for students to touch and explore are in our hands-on science centre.

Self-led Activities

    Pupils can engage with specimens through role-play in a self-guided explorer challenge through the Museum.

The Great Debate School Program

    Students are introduced to the history of the debate during a lively tour. They are then divided into groups and use exhibits to prepare presentations representing the views of the debated key characters.

Booking

    All school activities must be booked in advance by calling the schools booking line: 4420 7942 6666.

    After suffering through many months of unemployment  (失业). my wife and I moved this week from Colorado to Ohio. where she was starting a new job. Not knowing anybody there. we were pretty concerned about how we'd get our entire home unloaded (卸下) without killing ourselves.

    We made a phone call to hire (临时雇用) a couple of college students to help with all the heavy lifting once we got there. But one neighbor after another stopped by to help us. What ? Have we moved to some other country ? Maybe we've died and gone to heaven!     

    Unloading actually became fun and joy because there were so many wonderful new friends to help when we worked. The more people helped. the easier the work became. We were afraid the job might take days for the two of us alone. but it was finished in a few hours. Many total strangers would either walk by the sidewalk or drive by to ask us if we were moving in. Many were happy that this old house that had sat empty for so long was coming to life again. We were invited to an outdoor meal yesterday by neighbors on the same street.

    All the time. my brain was resting on this new sense of hope that people can be so friendly to strangers. Among all the conversation were lots of offers to help each other in all kinds of ways. It's wonderful to live in such a kind little town. I feel so grateful to be here. and wish the rest of the world could see how an entire community can model  (做榜样) what it's like to help each other.

BLOOD DRIVE ＆ MARROW（骨髓）REGISTRATION

    "These patients deserve a chance at a normal, happy future and they rely on the kindness of the strangers to make that happen.

    — Daisy, Isabelle's Mother

    Isabelle is the daughter of Daisy and Saman Mirzaei. In January 2008 Isabelle was diagnosed（诊断）with a genetic blood disorder，beta thalassemia. Isabelle's body is unable to produce healthy red blood cells. As a result, Isabelle has been receiving blood transfusions (输血) every 4-6weeks since she was 11 months old. A lifetime of regular transfusions can lead to serious medical problems. Her only chance at a normal, healthy life is to have a marrow transplant.  Isabelle is an only child, so doctors have started a search for an unrelated marrow donor through The Match Registry. The Mirzaei family asks that you consider helping patients like Isabelle by registering to be a marrow donor and give the gift of life, the gift of blood.

    Held at Wiley Hall

   Wednesday, March 26, 2014

    Behind Heathman Dormitory/Butterfield Rd.

   12:00 PM - 6 :00 PM

    Don't forget to bring your driver's license or another form of identification when you donate.

    Visit www.ribc.org to make an appointment, Sponsor Code 3390.

    FREE Kingston Pizza ! ! !

Marrow Donors:                                      BE THE MATCH

    bethematch.org

    be 18 to 44 years old

    in good health

    give a swab(化验标本)of your cheek cells for marrow typing

    FREE—sponsored（赞助）by Michael's Fund

    WWW. ribc. org        800-283-8385

    The Rhode Island Blood Center distributes blood products to hospitals

in Rhode Island and Southern New England.

    An idea that started in Seattle's public library has spread throughout America and beyond. The concept is simple: help to build a sense of community in a city by getting everyone to read the same book at the same time.

    In addition to encouraging reading as a pursuit (追求) to be enjoyed by all, the program allows strangers to communicate by discussing the book on the bus, as well as promoting reading as an experience to be shared in families and schools. The idea came from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who launched (发起)the "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book" project in 1998. Her original program used author visits, study guides and book discussion groups to bring people together with a book, but the idea has since expanded to many other American cities, and even to Hong Kong.

    In Chicago, the mayor(市长)appeared on television to announce the choice of To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book in the "One Book, One Chicago" program. As a result, reading clubs and neighbourhood groups sprang up around the city. Across the US, stories emerged of parents and children reading to each other at night and strangers chatting away on the bus about plot and character.

    The only problem arose in New York, where local readers could not decide on one book to represent the huge and diverse population. This may show that the idea works best in medium-sized cities or large towns, where a greater sense of unity(一致)can be achieved. Or it may show that New Yorkers rather missed the point, putting all their energy and passion into the choice of the book rather than discussion about a book itself.

    Ultimately as Nancy points out, the level of success is not measured by how many people read a book, but by how many people are enriched by the process or have enjoyed speaking to someone with whom they would not otherwise have shared a word.

    For many students who desire to move around but not far freely, one of the most common vehicles is the bicycle. For such a seemingly simple invention, its story is not that simple.

    Most historians trace its origin back to 1817, when a German nobleman named Karl von Drais invented a wooden, two­wheeled machine that riders moved forward with their feet. His invention became popular in both England and France, where it eventually became known as the velocipede. Unfortunately, it was eventually banned as a danger to pedestrians and was rarely seen after the early 1820s.

    Things were quiet for several decades until the bicycle development took off in the 1860s. An important milestone happened in Paris in 1863 when pedals were added to the front axle (轴). This occurred in Pierre Michaux's workshop, but it's unclear whether he or his employee, Pierre Lallement, should be given credit for the innovation Lallement moved to the United States, where he obtained a patent for "improvements in velocipedes" in 1866. These new machines proved to be popular, and the name "bicycle" had come into use by 1869. However, many people referred to them as "bone shakers", which described their clunky ride due to a heavy wooden frame and steel wheels.

    In the 1870s, "high wheelers" or "penny­farthings" became popular. However, with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel, they could be dangerous, if riders had to stop suddenly, as they would "take a header" when their momentum (动量) carried them over the front wheel onto their heads. Eventually, English inventor John Kemp Starley designed a "safety bicycle" with two same small wheels, a chain drive, and a set of gears. With tires added in and brake systems bettered in the following decades, bicycle production had skyrocketed to over one million bicycles by 1899.

    Mass production of bicycles increased their popularity greatly, since they became affordable for the average person. Over the course of the 20th century, manufacturers continued to improve the features and design of bicycles as new technologies appeared.

    There was a man playing the piano in a bar. He was a good piano player and always performed in this bar. People came in just to hear him play. But one night, a customer told him that he didn't want to hear him just play the piano any more. He wanted him to sing a song.

    The man said, "I don't sing." But the customer was persistent(执着的). He told the bar manager, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that man to sing!" The manager shouted across the room, "If you want to get paid, sing a song. Our customers are asking you to sing！" So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the first time. And everyone was surprised by his song Mona Lisa. He got lots of applause(掌声) that night.

    He had such a talent for singing, but he just had been sitting on his talent for the past years! If without such a chance, he may have lived the rest of his life as a no­name piano player in a no­name bar. However, now he has become one of the best­known singers in America.

    You, too, have skills and abilities. Maybe your "talent" is not as great as the singer above, but it may be better than you think! And with effort, most skills can be improved. So, in your life, you should be brave enough to try doing different things and find out what talents you really have!