- Duration: 4 Hours
- Location/Format: Wick High School
- Presenter: Science03
- Suitable for All Ages
NRS Dounreay
This year NRS Dounreay would like to proudly introduce SPOT…man’s very useful best friend. meet this special robot dog at Caithness International Science Festival and get involved in some hands-on STEM activities.
Glasgow Science Centre
Glasgow Science Centre will be showing us the amazing things our bodies are capable of and why it’s important to lead a healthy lifestyle. This pulse-raising, interdisciplinary experience will let participants explore endurance, strength, agility, speed, and coordination through a range of zoned exhibits.
Nature’s Path Natural Ways
Find out more about what foraging is and discover an abundance of wild foods that can be found growing in the Caithness countryside. Foraging connects us with nature through all our senses, improves health and wellbeing and can help reduce food bills by introducing wild foods to our diet. There will be a display of plants, locally foraged before the event to demonstrate a variety of wild foods and/or medicines available to forage in Caithness for you to explore while also sampling some of the wild flavoured syrups, jams, and chutneys.
Caithness Animal Farm Park
Cuddle up with an array of small animals at the Caithness Animal Farm Park petting zoo.
Caithness Astronomy Group
Explore light and magnetism with their hands-on activities, look through telescopes and discover more information about comets, the sun, planets and their moons, galaxies, the nebulae as well as the ever-famous Aurora Borealis.
Dynamic Earth
The Dynamic Earth team is here to teach us about how important it is to look after our Earth and what we can do to help. Decorate your own wildflower plant pot, build a mini bug home, and look at different types of plastic under a microscope while discovering their sustainable alternatives. Before you leave, make a “Planet Pledge” to put on the pledge tree and show your support for our beautiful Earth.
Highlife Highland Countryside Rangers
From puddles to ponds: Get involved in some hands-on activities while discovering more information about freshwater habitats in Caithness and the creatures that depend on them.
RSPB
Learn all about how you can give nature a home. We’ll have nature-based activities, interesting natural artefacts, and information on our reserves and how you can get involved!
Wick Voices
Discover how an old-fashioned dial-up phone has been used to capture lots of stories from past and present.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Journey Inside a Humpback Whale! Meet Hope, WDC’s life size humpback whale. Join the team to learn about whales, how they feed, where we see them and how you can help protect them.
Norscot
Take a journey through an interactive display of Norscot’s current Virtual Reality Houses.
Nucleus Caithness Archives
Visit the Nucleus Caithness Archive team and Dounreay Reminiscence Group to learn about what Caithness was like “way back when” and the history of our Nuclear Power Station.
KP Technology
KP Technology will bring a variety of science demonstrations and a chance to try out a robot arm, infra-red camera, and plasma ball.
UHI
Join the UHI STEM team in their hands-on activities to create bridges and towers out of spaghetti as well as learning how a 3D printer is now an innovative part of modern engineering.
Caithness Beach Cleans
Learn the statistics of rubbish left on our beaches and why it’s so important we keep them clean. Explore items that have been found on a routine beach clean, discover how items can be repurposed and made into other useful items such as doormats and wheelie bin closers. Create your own mat with the help of the CBC team and pick litter from the sandbox to earn your very own Beach Clean Badge.
Pentland Canoe Club
Look through all the equipment needed to keep safe when entering open waters, including GPS and navigation systems as well as a display of canoes and kayaks.
Strathnaver Museum
Visit the Strathnaver Museum team and join in their interactive activities as well as exploring a fascinating array of objects discovered, from worked bone, bronze and iron working, midden material, and a beautifully preserved pin. A special exhibition in the upper gallery will display images of some of the objects found, consider what they may be able to tell us about those who came before us, and share the next steps in our quest to discover what may be a site that has significant potential to enhance our understanding of the Pictish world.
Moray Makerspace
We are delighted to have Moray Makerspace joining us at the Caithness Science Festival for the first time! Join the team at their activity table and learn about practical coding, computational thinking such as algorithms and decoding / ciphers as well as a 3D printing display with working printers.
Caithness Seal Rehab and Release
Learn about what you should do if you come across a seal pup that’s been washed ashore. Discover what the team does and how they help keep our wildlife safe along the coastline.
Mark Thompson’s Spectacular Science Show
Join Mark as he pushes the boundaries of the mundane and entices you into a world full of the strange and wonderful, showcasing science like you’ve never seen it before. A show full of bangs, pops, bells, and whistles, this isn’t just for adults, it’s for kids too and we can assure you it is not one to be missed.
John O’Groats Development Trust
This Year celebrates the centenary of Duncansby Head Lighthouse. Join John O’Groats Development Trust to learn more about the history of Duncansby Head Lighthouse including visuals and sound recordings.
Royal Highland Education Trust
Visit the Royal Highland Education Trust team at their interactive stand to learn more about farming, where our food comes from and some fascinating facts about Sheep and Wool.
Thurso Community Development Trust
Join Thurso Community Development Trust for a Rubbish quiz!
Can you identify which waste goes where and what can be recycled?
Find out more about the waste we generate when you explore the waste decomposing timeline, which demonstrates how long it takes for materials we use daily to decompose and learn how you can help by recycling more to protect our planet.
Olrig and District Beekeeping Association
All about bees!
Visit Olrig & District Beekeeping Association to find out more about these incredible creatures.
Check out a virtual hive, model hive and bee suit. Join in interactive games, colouring in, and guess how many bees are in the hive.
Royal Society of Chemistry and ScotChem
Science is Magic
From science that appears magical to the science behind the magic, discover magical experiments each offering a new concept to explore. Join Adrian at the Royal Society of Chemistry and ScotChem stand to learn how science is used to create magical illusions that amaze and astonish!
Wick High School Radio Club
Learn how radio works, see an antenna set-up, and even talk to operators across the world. If the propagation conditions are right in the atmosphere, you should be able to talk to operators as far away as America!
Science Skills Academy
Our World from Space
Learn how we use satellites in relation to the ocean and experiment with temperature changes and an infrared camera!
Elements of Bushcraft
Learn about different animal skulls and antlers in this interactive display and depending on the weather, there may be an opportunity to find out how to light a fire the old-fashioned way.
Yarrows Heritage Trust
Visit Yarrows Heritage Trust to learn about the latest findings from the excavation of the Iron Age site at the Burn of Swartigill in Thrumster, Caithness.
This collaboration project between the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute and the Yarrows Heritage Trust, to date has provided a glimpse of everyday life in Iron Age Scotland.
Play Away Music
Good Vibrations
Hands on music making for the under 6’s. Discover how music is made from vibrations. Play a familiar tune on the Water Xylophone; hear harmonics in Whirly Tubes and play very big wooden chime bars. Fill an Easter Egg with items to make different sounds and learn the Balloon Song.