science

Science Picnic

Science Picnic is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Science Picnic rather than just read about it. In short: The Science Picnic is Europe's largest outdoor science-popularization event organized jointly by Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre. It has been held every year since 1997.

Key takeaways

Science Picnic belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Science Picnic to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Science Picnic from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Science Picnic is Europe's largest outdoor science-popularization event organized jointly by Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre. It has been held every year since 1997. A wide range of research fields are represented at the Picnic, including the hard, natural, and social sciences together with the humanities. Research and teaching institutions from Poland and abroad reveal here behind-the-scenes aspects of their work and present science in ways accessible to visitors of various ages, using hands-on experiments and interactive exhibits. The Science Picnic was commended by the European Commission in 2005 as one of 10 model European projects in the "Science and Society" field. The event has served as the inspiration for many other popular science initiatives, including the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.

History The first Science Picnic (as Science Picnic of Polish Radio BIS) was held in the Old Town district of Warsaw. During the first edition, 17 scientific institutions held scientific demonstrations in physics, medicine and archaeology in 13 tents, and the Picnic recorded around 3000 visitors. In subsequent years, the number of participating institutions and visitors grew rapidly. The event was moved to a larger public park in 2009 and then to the grounds of the newly constructed National Stadium in 2013. Since 2008 it has been organized jointly by Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre. Recent attendance varies between 100,000 and 120,000 people, with the exception of the blowout years of 2006 and 2013, when the Picnic received around 150,000 visitors. Since 2013, Science Picnics are also held in Ukraine.

Organizers and initiators Professor Łukasz A. Turski, Center for Theoretical Physics of Polish Academy of Sciences Robert Firmhofer, Polish Radio (since 2006 director of the Copernicus Science Centre) Krystyna Kępska-Michalska, Polish Radio

Participating institutions Each year the Science Picnic is participated in by institutions from Poland and abroad (including from Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Mexico, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Sweden, United States).

External links

Official website (in English)

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Science Picnic

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Science Picnic claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Science Picnic before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Science Picnic ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Science Picnic

In research: Science Picnic appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Science Picnic in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Science Picnic is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1997 establishments in Poland, Education in Warsaw, Festivals in Poland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Science Picnic outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Science Picnic in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Science Picnic means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Science Picnic out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Science Picnic in simple terms?

The Science Picnic is Europe's largest outdoor science-popularization event organized jointly by Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre. It has been held every year since 1997.

Why does Science Picnic matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Science Picnic?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Science Picnic.