Historia PCN
Podkarpackie Science Centre "Łukasiewicz"
The Podkarpackie Science Centre "Łukasiewicz", abbreviated PCN, is a science popularisation centre with a nationally unique programme offer linked to the intelligent specialisations of the province, including: aviation, aerospace, IT and telecommunications and broadly defined quality of life.
Not a museum! But not a playground either... Created near Rzeszów, the Science Centre is an unlimited space for the mind, offering as many possibilities as the daring imagination and the unsatisfied curiosity of the explorer will suggest. Here, you can experiment to your heart's content, test, question, experience... Almost 200 interactive exhibits and 5 fully equipped workshop rooms are available for this purpose, including: Fablab, Robotics lab, Biol-eko lab, Chemistry lab, Physics lab.
PCN is a unique place whose mission is to transform the way we think and act. It is designed for everyone regardless of age, education or ability.
MISSION
Our mission is to activate PCN's guests towards lifelong learning, in terms of key skills for the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, by creating a space that stimulates the acquisition of knowledge and personal development based on independent experience of science, contact with regional heritage and discovering the complexity and interdependence between the natural world, the human being living in it and the achievements of our civilisation.
We do not only stimulate interest in science. Our aim is also to promote the Podkarpackie region, in particular its scientific, cultural and natural heritage.
VISION
We aim to become a high-calibre interdisciplinary institution inspiring the international society for personal development and to create a good future based on a commitment to learning about the world, making constant attempts to understand it, developing socially responsible attitudes towards the environment and the changes taking place around us.
GUESTS
The main audiences for PCN's offer are:
- pre-school children (exhibition in preparation),
- primary school students,
- secondary school students,
- adults, including science enthusiasts and students, teachers, senior citizens, etc.
At the PCN we ensure that we impart knowledge multisensorially, engaging as many senses as possible. We want to evoke positive emotions. The emotions that accompany learning about the world and its mysteries allow us to remember information more effectively, and the questions that naturally arise from experiments and experiences arouse greater curiosity and passion for learning.
Through independent experience, PCN visitors are given the opportunity to:
- develop their critical thinking skills,
- feel a deep need to ask questions and seek answers,
- appreciate the value of the heritage of the Subcarpathian region.
SMART SPECIALISATIONS
The PCN is a place for shaping future career preferences, discovering talents and interests, and identifying careers linked to the smart specialisations of the Podkarpackie voivodeship as an attractive route to self-realisation and job satisfaction. The themes of the exhibitions were linked to the smart specialisations of the region, such as aviation and aerospace, quality of life, information and telecommunications. The crux of the PCN's exhibitions is the human being, the surrounding nature and, finally, civilisation, including aviation and aerospace.
The structure of the exhibition and its core exhibitions also reflect the informal division of the region into activity zones:
- The 'north-west' zone is primarily industrial activity in areas of regional specialisation - the 'Aviation' exhibition reflects this.
- The 'south-east' zone is natural resources including nature and history - this is reflected in the 'Nature' exhibition.
- The 'central' zone is Rzeszów, focused on industry and interdisciplinary scientific activity, including life sciences (medicine) and information technology - this comprehensive activity is reflected in the interdisciplinary exhibition 'I live'.
Our primary task is to introduce and popularise science, research results, innovations (especially technological ones) using tools and methods of sensory transmission of knowledge, to provide access to modern education and to develop and promote the habit of active lifelong learning.
EXHIBITION
The area of the PCN building is approximately 6,500 square metres, of which the exhibition space occupies approximately 3,000 square metres. The exhibition includes almost 200 interactive exhibits, which are spread over three floors and the exterior of the building.
The core exhibition presents scientific knowledge in a simple way, as interrelated and interpenetrating three 'macro-areas' identified under the headings:
- The World Around Us - i.e. what is natural - nature, the laws governing the world, physical and chemical phenomena, the structure of animate and inanimate matter, ecological systems, etc;
- Our Civilisation - i.e., what humanity has produced using its own skills and acquired knowledge - artefacts, technology and engineering, mathematics, culture, etc.; and
- We the People - i.e. how the human body functions - senses, anatomy and physiology, cognitive processes, reason - logical thinking etc.
The entire exhibition is divided into 6 exhibitions with different themes and functionalities:
- Part: Aviation - a specialised, stationary main exhibition
- Part: I am alive - interdisciplinary, stationary main exhibition
- Part: Nature - specialised, stationary main exhibition
- Part: Complementary exhibition - interdisciplinary, stationary, complementary exhibition
- Part: Educational Toys - interdisciplinary, stationary exhibition for children aged 3 - 6 years
- Part: Mobile exhibition - interdisciplinary, mobile
The project 'Establishment of the Podkarpackie Science Centre' is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the Regional Operational Programme of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship 2014-2020, Measure: 6.4. Educational infrastructure. The beneficiary of the project is the Provincial House of Culture in Rzeszów.