Educational Trip

On 24th March a small group of us from the Educational Studies department took a trip to the Centre of Alternative Technology (CAT) based up in the hills of Machynlleth. The trip was designed to understand and discover what exhibitions are out there that can educate with an 'hands on' experience. The CAT is a place where it can educate and demonstrate different ways of living, to create that viable way of life for the future.
By visiting the CAT it was clear to me that the exhibit was open to all age groups due to the vast amount of information and ways of learning, however the Centre director did clarify that the majority of visitors are by groups of children from inner city primary schools, which are looking for ways for those children to be more aware and engaged in the world around them. For the Centre to become desirable for children, it had created numerous of play grounds and activities set out to help them to find the areas of learning interesting.

I noticed that most of the the CAT is built and designed outside, to help visitors understand the importance of the environment and to show them how effective different types of renewable materials can be built to produce a sustainable way of life. 
The Centre is based upon a large hill where an old slate quarry used to be situated. The environment that the exhibit has created is a very 'hands on' area therefore the importance of both fine and gross motor skills are required with the use of all senses to allow the visitor to be fully engaged with the learning experiences. 
For children that come from primary schools to visit the exhibition, they may have specifically came to gain knowledge about the new and different technologies that are out there to create a more happy environment to live in. Due to the fact that the school perhaps is carrying out a science project on renewable energy, therefore the children's knowledge of science is developed. However from visiting the exhibit authentically there was no activities on that day that were being demonstrated to recognise if any specific  subject knowledge  was being developed for visitors, part from a small insight to how the centre do grow their own products and how they preserve and look after the land around them, therefore an agriculture aspect of knowledge was developed.

From visiting the CAT first hand and reading their mission statement from their website, it is clear from my perspective that the exhibit is aiming to try to reach out to the public to demonstrate what can create an effective way of life. Nonetheless the CAT have produced a fantastic exhibit for all kinds of learners from no financial support by local authorities but there is unfortunately the lack of space for large public groups of people to come visit. Disappointingly being known as a CAT there was barley any new technology devices being used in or around the exhibit, it appeared to be out of date and I highly suggest that those areas of the Centre should be re-examined.





Refeerence
CAT retrieced on 25th Feburary 2014 from http://www.cat.org.uk/index.html