Whitby Wizard

Welcome to the first science centre museum in North Yorkshire. Modelled on the world famous Exploratorium in San Fransisco. It contains the quirkiest collection of exciting hands-on exhibits in the region, suitable for both adults and children.

The Whitby Wizard, situated on the West Cliff in Whitby, is built and directed by Mr. Dag (Pronounced "Darg") Kjelldahl, the well known Norwegian adventurer and educator. He started Norway's first science centre in 1986 and directed it until he settled in Whitby in 1999. The Teknoteket in Oslo still receives some 140000 visitors each year and is now incorporated into the Norsk Teknisk Museum.

The Whitby Wizard stands for an important innovation in the North Yorkshire museum education field. The exhibits are participatory and experimental. They play a new role in informal education by encouraging the use of the senses for some enjoyable exploration of our environment.

Museums around the world are increasingly aware of the importance of learning through multisensory experiences. North Yorkshire's new science centre in Whitby is based on a specific hands-on museum tradition started in 1969 in USA and Canada. Truly interactive exhibits provide a needed extra dimension and balance to the science curriculum in schools and cater to the need for self-directed exploration, universally accepted as the most effective and rewarding way to learn. When at all possible, the experiments at the Wizard's are not simply computer based but three dimesional, material challenges to the mind.

www.whitbywizard.com