Encouraging the hands-on appliance of science

Parenting: There are many ways to help your children discover science and express themselves, both artistically and scientifically.

Laurent Mellet is passionate about science. Not the Petri Dish and Bunsen burner variety, but the science that allows him to build big, crazy pieces of machine art that end up in public squares and circuses. For the last few months Mellet has been working with Irish primary school children at the Ark Centre in Temple Bar, Dublin.

"I thought these children would have been so sophisticated by The Matrix and PlayStation that they would be less than impressed by a robot built out of kitchen utensils," Mellet observes. "In fact, they were totally switched on by the idea of building their own machines using simple science and everyday materials."

Laurent believes that children are only exposed to science in two, not very helpful ways. In the classroom the science they learn is divorced from their own experience of the world. Through film, computer games and the entertainment industry they come into contact with very advanced science, way beyond their understanding.

After working with 50 schools, Laurent has lost his initial scepticism about trying to get children switched on to science. "They just love to get stuck in with rubber bands, bits of wire, cork, springs, wood - whatever. They come up with all kinds of interesting ideas for inventions - from home-made alarm clocks to machines that scare little brothers. By using simple forces of nature to help them create their machines - evaporation, combustion, wind power, solar power - they learn to apply science in a really enjoyable way."

Mellet, who grew up in Paris and has worked with the robot circus troupe Arkaos, feels sorry for Irish children with a natural love of art and science. "There's no outlet here, no science museums, no workshops - even public art in Ireland is totally tame. If you're into football in Ireland you're fine. If you're into physics or machines - forget it."

So how do parents encourage their children to play with science and to express themselves, both artistically and scientifically? Mellet gives the obvious answer first.

"Turn off the television. Parents are filling their children's lives with bought entertainment, allowing themselves to fall prey to advertisers. A child learns nothing from a remote-control robot or a computer game. He gets much more fun from something that he can build himself."

Mellet wants to see boys and girls working with their heads and hands. "Buy an old car and pull it apart in the back garden. Fill a box full of odds and ends - springs and wires, bits of wood, rubber bands, balloons, bottle tops, chains and strings. Get your child building. Let him open up an old vacuum cleaner and see how it works. Get children asking questions about why the light goes on instead of just accepting that it does."

And in case you though machine art was just for boys, Mellet has another thing coming. "The Arkaos circus is full of women. The girls who have come through this workshop over the last few months have been just as enthusiastic and inventive as the boys. They have a natural appreciation for how art and science interact."

Mellet's workshop is part of the Ark's most recent exhibition, Leonardo Da Vinci: The Marriage of Art and Technology. The exhibition features models of machines designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, the original Renaissance man who blended art and science seamlessly, never differentiating between the two.

The exhibition moves to Sligo's Model Arts Centre on the December 4th and runs until January 10th 2004.

The Ark's Children's Cultural Centre runs exhibitions and workshops especially for children all year round. Visit www.ark.ie for details of upcoming events.