Do & Discover is back again for the 2023 Chelmsford Festival! Join CSES and its partners for a full weekend of FREE hands-on discovery across the city of Chelmsford. Taking place across both days at ARU and the Meadows Shopping Centre, we invite you to Do something fun and Discover the wonders of science and innovation in Chelmsford.
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)
10-4 Sat 17th • 10-4 Sun 18th
Taking place in the Marconi Building (Google map • campus map)
Connecting Chelmsford
Discover how Chelmsford connected and changed the world • Hack the Meadows!
Did you know that communications technology from Chelmsford has been connecting people for well over a century? Throughout this time, Chelmsford has been a world-renowned centre of scientific and technological innovation and has had an incredible impact on all of our lives.
Discover this amazing story and see how communication has evolved over the years, including radio and the Internet. Experience the latest digital tech with a live link to the Meadows, and control what people see and hear in the shopping centre! Can you hack into the Do & Discover festival there?
Brain Hub (Saturday only)
Dementia-friendly games • Neurofeedback technology
Please click here to pre-book your FREE time slot
Would you like to improve your focus, sleep, and mood? Join brain health specialist Naomi Glover at the Brain Performance Hub to learn more about how you can future-proof your brain. Your brain controls everything you think, feel, and do, yet most people know more about their mobile phone than they do about their brain. Are you ready to explore your brain?
Want to control a game with your brain? Mendi is a brain training headband and app which helps people proactively train, measure, and improve brain health. The Mendi headband is suitable for all ages and designed for home use. Mendi uses neurofeedback technology, fitted with non-intrusive sensors that bring your brain activity to life in a brain training game.
At the Brain Performance Hub, we will explain some of these techniques and provide tangible tools and strategies to build and maintain better brain health and performance throughout life.
Pre-booking is strongly advised for this activity. Drop-in slots will be available subject to capacity, but feel free to come and observe or ask questions at any time!
In addition to the Brain Performance Hub, Remap will be demonstrating their dementia-friendly games consoles, which have been built by local school students! Test your memory and reaction speed, and find out about how you can get involved in this excellent initiative.
Please click here to pre-book your FREE time slot
Make Your Own Radio
Crystal sets • FM receivers • Circuit labs
Please click here to pre-book your FREE time slot
Ever fancied having a go at making your own radio? Now is your chance: with one of our simple kits you can build your own crystal set or FM receiver and pick up what's on air! Experience the wonder of this game-changing invention from Chelmsford as people would have done 100 years ago.
We will also have some circuit lab kits for anyone who wants to have a go at designing and building other electronic devices.
Pre-booking is strongly advised for this activity. Drop-in slots will be available subject to capacity, but feel free to come and observe or ask questions at any time!
Please click here to pre-book your FREE time slot
Younger children can bring the exhibition to life with an exciting pack of activities covering History, Geography, English, Art, and Science, all focused around the pioneering work of Guglielmo Marconi.
Radio Drama Festival (Saturday evening – after event)
To round off the Saturday, ARU will be hosting the finale of the Chelmsford Radio Drama Festival in the evening.
Just over 100 years ago, Chelmsford introduced the concept of radio entertainment to the world. Come and listen to the premiere of an exciting new work being recorded for broadcast later this year.
Meadows Shopping Centre
11-4 Sat 17th • 11-3 Sun 18th
Hands-on Family Fun
Science experiments • Engineering challenges • Craft activities
Come and take part in our fun science experiments and engineering challenges! Including:
- Egg(celerometer) Drop Challenge: Think you can protect an egg (or in this case, our digital "eggcelerometer") from a 5m drop, using just paper, plastic bags, straws, tape and string?
- CSES COMPRESS Challenge: How strong or efficient can you make a structure out of just paper? Pit the strength of your paper structure against our crushing machine, testing to destruction!
- Magnetic Magic: Welcome to the weird world of electromagnetism, where even non-magnetic metals seem to interact with magnets. Can you predict what will happen?
- Toppling Towers: Why doesn't the leaning tower of Pisa fall over? Why don't YOU fall over? Test your balance skills with our toppling towers, each filled with different materials.
Raspberry Jam – Tech and Coding
Interactive demos • Live projections • AI music • Robots • Coding • Retro games
There will be lots of fun! Experience augmented reality (AR) and immersive projections, listen to AI compose music, play with robots, or even have a go at coding yourself. Maybe you'd like to dive into some retro games or computing platforms? Or track satellites live!
Try your hand at communication through the ages and control exhibits remotely with a live link to ARU. Can you hack any of the demonstrations?
Hearing Lab (Sunday only)
Hearing aid simulator • Create ear impressions
If we have normal hearing, it wouldn’t be best to go around wearing hearing aids in case we hurt our ears. It would be like constantly wearing headphones that are too loud. But there is a way to experience what it’s like safely... With this demo, you can put on some sound proof ear defenders to shut out the noise and wear a head band that sits behind the ear, experiencing what it's like to listen through a hearing aid.
You can also have a go at creating your own impressions on some pretend ears. We’ll learn some basic safety tips before having a go and, if you like, you can take the moulded shape home.
Brain Hub (Sunday only)
Dementia-friendly games
Didn't see them at ARU on the Saturday? Remap will be demonstrating their dementia-friendly games consoles, which have been built by local school students! Test your memory and reaction speed, and find out about how technology can help those suffering with dementia.
We are actively seeking schools and families who would like to get involved with building more of these consoles. Please come and speak to the Remap team to find out more!
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If you would like to take part as a volunteer, or have an activity, project or organisation that you'd like to showcase as part of the weekend, please do get in touch.
Chelmsford
Essex
United Kingdom