Philippine Science Centrum marks 24th anniversary with new exhibits

Save water, conserve energy, save the environment! The Philippine Science Centrum's nine new exhibits does not only show kids why conserving the environment is important. It also shows them how to do it.

 

On its 24th anniversary, the Philippine Science Centrum launched nine new exhibits aimed at teaching kids how to save the environment. All these exhibits, like everything else in the Science Centrum, are interactive.

 

Interactive exhibits

 

“In most museums, you see the description, you see the explanation, but you don't see the action. With this one, you touch it, you do something, it explains what happens,” said Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology President Engr. Filemon Berba, Jr. in an interview with GMA News Online during the exhibit launch on Wednesday.

 

“We waste too much in our environment. We waste electricity, we waste materials, (but these) are preventable. We have to have what we call a war on waste.”

 

One of the exhibits is called Standby (Phantom) Power, which features a television connected to a device that measures the electricity it consumes. With a push of a button, the viewer can turn the television on or off. The exhibit shows that a plugged-in television, even when turned off, still consumes electricity. Lesson learned: When appliances are not in use, don't just turn them off. Unplug them as well.

 

Battle of the Bulbs, another exhibit, compares four kinds of light bulbs: the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), the Halogen Lamp, LED lamp, and incandescent lamp. All four are attached to devices that measures illuminance or brightness (measured in lux), and the amount of electricity it consumes (measured in watts).

 

The goal is to figure out which lamp is the most efficient – the one that emits the brightest light with the least power consumption. Any guesses as to which one it is?

 

Among the other exhibits are the Trash Timline, which compares the amount of time trash decomposes; E-waste, which shows the health risks posed by discarded electronic devices; and Recycling, an exhibit that describes how and why some garbage can be processing back into their original raw material for reusing.

 

The exhibits also feature the Dual Flush toilet, Biogas, and the Surface Runoff, a model that shows how low-lying areas beside denuded mountains are much easily flooded than those beside green mountains.

 

A bonus exhibit features tips on how to conserve water. The photo below, for instance, shows that by using the conventional pail and dipper when taking a bath, you can save as much as 118 liters of water compared to using a shower:

 

These interactive exhibits were funded by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development under the Department of Science and Technology.

 

Berba said that more exhibits are to come. A set of exhibits on climate change is to be expected in the summer, Dr. Corazon Claudio, member of the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology Board of Trustees, said during the launch.

Surviving the years

 

The Philippine Science Centrum is the first interactive science center in the Philippines launched in February 1, 1990. After being wrecked by an earthquake that same year, the Centrum transferred from the Manila Film Center in Pasay City to the University of the Philippines Manila. Finally in 2004, the Science Centrum once again transferred to its current home, the E-Com Building at Riverbanks Center, Marikina City.

 

A ticket to the Science Centrum costs Php 120 for both adults and children. However, kids from public schools are only charged Php 95, while teachers and children below two years old are not charged at all. — TJD, GMA News