Washington, DC - Thousands of students coast-to-coast, from alternative schools for troubled youth to science magnet schools, will take part in "Public Science Day" on January 21, a celebration of hands-on science exploration. The students, who have worked for months on projects examining the theme "Our Changing Earth," will display their work and take part in special programs at local science centers that have supported their projects.
In the past, Public Science Day was a one-day opening event for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, celebrated in the host city alone. The 1999 Public Science Day program, sponsored by AAAS in cooperation with The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and with funding from Unisys Corporation, expanded to ten cities in addition to the host city of Anaheim, CA.
Competitive grants totaling $90,000 were awarded to science centers to work with students at neighboring schools. The schools are linked through a website hosted by the Franklin Institute (www.fi.edu/psd99), which lists resources and posts the students' findings.
Katherine Munoz, 10, of Austin, TX, has been collecting water samples from springs and creeks to determine the water quality for living things with her classmates at Becker Elementary School. "The thing I found that was amazing is that this one animal had to live in the water when it was young, but when it got older it grew wings and had to live out of the water," she said. "It was fun getting dirty and looking for all the animals."
In Orange County, CA, students from Lomarena Elementary School studied landslides by creating models of hillside homes. Matt Kraus learned that wet sand topped with manure soil created a strong hold for a cardboard and popsicle-stick house. The 12-year old was enthusiastic about the chance to "experience something."
Macon Hodges, 12, of Flora D. Crittenden Middle School in Newport News, VA, studied satellite images of earth taken over two decades. "It's been pretty interesting, especially to see how air pollution has increased," he said.
Katherine, Matt, and Macon are just three of the many young scientists across the nation who have learned more about the Earth through Public Science Day projects. On January 21, as the AAAS Annual Meeting opens, they will join their fellow student researchers in a range of activities marking the culmination of their projects. Students will use seismographs to determine the magnitude of earthquakes at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, learn about the Mars Global Surveyor mission at the Mars Observer facility in Tempe, AZ, and touch a tornado in Portland, OR.
Clustered around the AAAS Annual Meeting site in Anaheim are three Public Science Day venues:
- The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana will be the site of gardening
science projects and models of hillside homes. Students from Lomarena
Elementary School in Laguna Hills will display their project and visit the
hands-on exhibits including eight theme areas such as space exploration and
quake zone. Students from Bryant Ranch School in Yorba Linda will take part
in hands-on science experiments with David Heil, host of Newton's Apple, at
their school. They will set up their projects in Anaheim and meet that evening
with scientists convened for the AAAS Annual Meeting. Both these Orange County
schools have worked with the Educational Enterprises Department of KCET. The
Discovery Center is located at 2500 N. Main Street in Santa Ana. Contact:
Janet Yamaguchi, 714-913-5005. Bryant Range School is located at 24695 Paseo
de Toronto in Yorba Linda. Contact: Christine Quinn, 714-692-8275.
- The earth's geological wonders will come to life at the Natural History
Museum of Los Angeles County with the display of group projects, including
creation of a volcano, from the students at Foshay Learning Center in Los
Angeles. Young scientists will demonstrate their projects to paleontologists,
geologists and mineralogists and will tour the world-class Gem & Mineral Hall.
The museum is located at 900 Exposition Boulevard in Exposition Park. Contact:
Gina Ward or Mary Baerg, 213-763-3515.
- The California Science Center in Los Angeles will host students from
Elizabeth Learning Center, Cucamonga Middle School, Lewis Educational Research
Center and Apple Valley Middle School, culminating their studies of El Niño
and La Niña weather patterns. The students will take part in a number of live
interactive demonstrations including, dissecting a pig heart, testing sound
waves and experimenting with laser beams. The Center is located at 700 State
Drive. Contact: Paula Wagner, 213-744-7446.
- At the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, DC, students from Options
Public Charter School and Seed Public Charter School will present their
findings on how people influence ecosystems and weather patterns, while
watching a chemist create light without heat
and electrocute a pickle to make it glow in the dark. The museum is located at
800 Third Street, NE. Contact: Al Farber, 202-675-4183.
- The Southwest Center for Education and the Natural Environment (SCENE) will
bring students from Trevor Browne High School in Phoenix, to Arizona State
University where they'll work with ecologists to test the water and survey the
bird population in the Desert Arboretum Park. In Tempe, AZ, all 360 students
of Meyer Elementary School will be involved with hands-on activities such as a
simulated archaeological dig, creating 3-D designs for their native habitat
using sand and other natural materials and surveying the insect population on
the school grounds. SCENE is located at 907 S. Mill Avenue in Tempe. Meyer
Elementary School is located at 2615 S. Dorsey Lane in Tempe. Contact: Kathryn
Kyle, 602-965-4179.
- At the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, all 500
students from rural Petersen Elementary School in Scappoose, Ore., will have a
chance to touch a tornado, build structures to withstand earthquakes and
perform environmental chemistry experiments at the museum. OMSI is located at
1945 SE Water Avenue, Portland Contact: Kathrin Larson, 503-797-4537.
- At The Pittsburgh Children's Museum, students from Homewood Montessori
School and Dickson Intermediate School will create a 40-foot silk banner with
artistic renderings of the plants, animals, and other symbols of the Nine Mile
Run stream they studied. The banner will include student's statements of hope
for the stream, which runs through a former industrial site and has been
polluted for 100 years. The museum is located at 10 Children's Way in
Pittsburgh. Contact: Jennifer Broderick, 412-322-5058 ext. 217.
- The Virginia Air & Space Center (Hampton, VA) will host hundreds of students
grades 2 - 12 and the general public in a day filled with activities on
weather and atmospheric science. On hand will be NASA's EarthKAM project as
well as the Navy and Air Force portable weather stations. Young scientists
from Flora D. Crittenden Middle School and NASA scientist mentors will share
their Public Science Day projects with visitors. Visitors will also take part
in real-time discussions with students from other states over an Amateur
Satellite Radio Station. The center is located at 600 Settlers Landing Rd. in
Hampton. Contact: Margaret Carlini, 757-727-0900 ext. 713.
- In Austin, TX, budding fifth grade scientists from Becker Elementary School
will present the findings of their research to a panel of professionals at the
Beverly S. Sheffield Education Center. The Austin Nature and Science Center
will also sponsor a school-wide event featuring local entertainer, John Lucas
Miller, whose songs have an environmental message. Becker Elementary School is
located at 906 W. Milton in Austin. The Beverly. S. Sheffield Education Center
is located at 2201 Barton Springs Rd. in Austin. Contact Janice Sturrock,
512-327-8181 ext. 13.
- Students from Sego Middle School in Augusta, GA, will display their
Styrofoam model of the Savannah River at the National Science Center's Fort
Discovery. Students will demonstrate computer programs and interactive games
they created about their project. The center is located at One Seventh St. in
Augusta. Contact: Mary Ann Navarro, 706-821-0232.
- Live and remote audiences will be able to hear students from the Dr. Charles
R. Drew Science Magnet School discuss and demonstrate their projects on
puddles, cracks, dust and rust at the Buffalo (NY) Museum of Science. The
museum is located at 1020 Humboldt Parkway. Contact: Patrick Keyes,
716-896-5200 ext.354.
- The Miami Museum of Science has invited students from Avocado, Pine Lake and
Redland Elementary Schools to display their projects on the changing South
Florida ecosystems and the effects of humans on natural weather systems. Their
projects included the capture, observation and release of small marine life in
the Florida Bay. The event will take place at Coral Reef Senior High School
located at 10101 S.W. 152 Street in Miami. Contact: Mara Hernandez,
305-854-4247 ext. 289.
- The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia will welcome students from G.W. Childs, Decatur, Morrison and Patterson. Along with displaying their projects in Franklin Hall, students will get to explore hands-on exhibits including walking through the chambers of the heart. The museum is located at 222 N. 20th St. in Philadelphia. Contact: Tony Sorrentino, 215-448-1176.
Media Note: Reporters are invited to attend Public Science Day activities and to interview young scientists and their teachers. For more information on Unisys, contact Allison Svindland, 215-986-2804; on The Franklin Institute, contact Tony Sorrentino, 215-448-1176.