Science Museum opens Wonderlab an interactive science gallery in United Kingdom.
Wonderlab that's funded by Statoil has exhibits, artworks and demonstrations from science experts. They believe that with this new exhibit will inspire people to venture into science and mathematics.
"The gallery is inspired by the Faraday Theatre. It has a 120-capacity and has two live demonstration areas," The museum explained.
With the gallery's opening, they hope to inspire different visitors to venture into science and mathematics. It has seven zones that that caters 50 exhibits with topics that explains every day science and math.
Ian Blatchford, Group Director, said that they're goal is to make people understand that science that's part of our everyday lives. He explained that they hope to inspire future scientist, technologist, engineer and mathematician.
Blatchford stressed that Wonderlab is 60 percent bigger than Launchpad, another interactive gallery. He said that they target 200,000 students to visit the gallery for free in a span of three years.
However, Wonderlab's hype still can't suppress the ongoing criticism it faces from critics about its choice of sponsor. Its sponsored by Statoil which is a gas company that plans to drill seven new wells in the Arctic region.
The Guardian reported that this is not the first time Science Museum had questionable sponsors. They were once sponsored by arm company Airbus and other fossil fuel companies like BP and Shell.
They tried to defend Statoil to the public explaining that Statoil is a legal company. The news site believes that the museum was "dogged by poor decision making."
Despite apprehensions, the site acknowledges the museum's decision to offer school free access to the gallery for underprivileged kids. In a study conducted by Wellcome Trust, they explained that social class dictates the likelihood of a student to visit a museum.
Emily Dawson, an academic, explained that charging museum's clearly shows that science is only for privileged students. As of to date, there's an online petition for Launchpad to be free for children to visit.
