Life at the Castle and a Visit to the Copenhagen International School

Charlottenlund Castle
Photo credit: Diana Payne

Life at the Castle: An Office in the King's Private Quarters, Royal Encounters and Grafitti

I share my temporary space (desk in the foreground) with Kirsten Thomsen, Ole Henrik Haslund and Ivo Grigorov. Recall that the building housing the DTU Aqua offices was a royal Danish summer residence, Charlottenlund Castle and the beautiful Charlottenlund Castle Gardens. The rumor is that our office was at one time part of the King's private quarters. He would literally lie in bed and shoot deer from the window.

Office space at DTU Aqua, formerly the King's private quarters.
Photo credit: Diana Payne

Deer would come down into this valley - office window is on the second floor, far right.
Photo credit: Diana Payne

Then there is the much more recent story of a member of the royal family knocking at the front door asking to use the toilet. Difficult to deny access - after all, it IS his property! And would you believe the Queen used to give certain guests a diamond so as to carve their name in the window??? I found the proof of this tale on the landing just off the dining room:

Name carved in Charlottenlund Castle window.
Photo credit: Diana Payne

More graffiti on a Charlottenlund Castle window.
Photo credit: Diana Payne

Lunch with Thomas Kiørboe

Meals take place in what used to be the "Knights room," complete with fireplace and museum quality paintings of the royal family adorning the walls. Yesterday Ivo and I had lunch with the Director of the Centre for Ocean Life Dr. Thomas Kiørboe to discuss the goals of our project. Dr. Kiørboe is an internationally renowned plankton ecologist with an easygoing, friendly manner. Over the course of our conversation, he asked where my UConn office is located. Remarkably, he will be presenting a seminar on October 9 at UConn Avery Point as an invited guest of Dr. Hans Dam of the UConn Marine Sciences department! I'm sorry to miss the seminar on my home turf, but I have put Dr. Kiørboe in touch with members of our Avery Point faculty and staff involved in ocean science education and outreach projects.

DTU Aqua dining room.
Photo credit: Diana Payne

Copenhagen International School

Yesterday afternoon, Ivo and I travelled to the Copenhagen International School (CIS) - via bicycle, of course - to meet with middle school science teachers. Classes at CIS are taught in English, which may help place DTU Aqua scientists who do not speak Danish.

At the Copenhagen International School (CIS).
Photo credit: Ivo Grigorov.

Our initial conversation with Brynna Vogt and Charlotte Knappe went very well! After presenting an overview of our ideas for potential collaboration, Brynna and Charlotte told us about CIS and the science curriculum. We discovered significant areas of overlap and mutual interest - in fact, Charlotte commented "Christmas just arrived in the Science department!" We also considered methods to evaluate the impact of visiting scientists, including the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST). Brynna is quite familiar with DAST as she utilized it as part of her master's thesis. The conversation included a discussion about a session I'll be co-presenting with Dr. Meghan Marrero at the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) conference. We've taken a new twist on DAST and the Draw-An Environment Test in piloting the Draw-the-Ocean test (DTO)!

We all left the meeting energized and made plans to take next steps, including a follow-up meeting in October.

Discussing potential collaboration between DTU and CIS with middle school science teachers 
Charlotte Knappe (center) and Brynna Vogt (right).
Photo credit: Ivo Grigorov.

Viewing images of the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST).
Photo credit: Ivo Grigorov.