Kids and Science

 

Kids are little scientist always curious, always trying and learn no matter what, but they stay safe and gain most when experimenting in intended for it and set environment. “Hands-on” learning experience through visual and creative participation bits the best traditional, school type method. Active learning is a great help in keeping children focused, alert, and engaged, making easier to stay on task. Getting to see the final result is a substantial reward for a job well done. “Hands-on” learning technique is very appealing to all sorts of kids, especially to theses with any type of learning difficulties. In fact, all children can benefit from the combination of activity and education that these modalities offer. In an integrated learning environment, hands on projects can help children to interact and cooperate with each other, promote understanding and foster social and communication skills.

Basia with Dad Making Volcanic Eruption

with baking soda and vinegar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-1Rvl49bls

What can be a better place to do experiments then the Ultimate Science Street Fair, which on Sunday, June 2nd, 2013 (10am–6pm), turned The Washington Square Park into an interactive outdoor laboratory? Throughout the day the real scientists, astrophysicists and archaeologists from places like Columbia University, Liberty Science Center, MoMath, and many more hosted activity booths and performances. Basically the park was dotted with tents that served as classrooms. We rolled up your sleeves and dag into science through all-new interactive exhibits, games, or shows and aspiring scientists of all ages assisted us in “Science Centers” of biology, climate change, energy, math and technology, chemistry, and more.

We tried to visit all different categories and stations. To make it more transparent I will try to put them in groups and describe the activities we were doing.

CLIMATE CORNER

• At Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University we became a meteorologists, analyzed weather maps and learned how NYC is directly impacted by the changing polar regions.
• At NOAA CREST we watched a spin on the Coriolis ride to see how hurricanes form and gain power, then created clouds, tornadoes, and wind currents in a bottle.
• At Super-Secret Headquarters of the Climate Repair & Innovation League
  (Created by ESI Design) we learned how climate change is affecting our communities and tried to develop your own creative solutions for challenges.
• At The WemoLab–Digital Ocean we watched Superfugu, a new interactive app, diving underwater and learned about the creatures in the ocean.
• In Do You Know Where Your Drinking Water Comes From? station we discovered how watersheds work and how our drinking water is collected in reservoirs, learned about trout anatomy, the importance of clean water, and what happens to all the water that comes into NYC during a storm.
• At Philadelphia Zoo we studied polar bears in the wild.

ENERGY AVENUE

• At Solar One we tried to discover the amount of energy used by common household appliances, measured wind voltage, and raced solar cars.
• At Soccer place we kicked around a soccer ball and checked the energy we’ve created!
  

BIOLOGY BLOCK

• At New York Botanical Garden we learned about medicinal plants, potted them, and took home.
• At American Museum of Natural History we had a chance to touch real skulls, explore exotic and familiar animal skulls, and compare the teeth of walruses, cougars, warthogs, lions, and dolphins.
• At Liberty Science Center we put a stick through a balloon with out popping it, examined the world upside down and searched for fossils.
• At Hudson River Museum we examined Hudson River specimens along with enlarged models of microorganisms, stepped up to a solar telescope and viewed the sun, learned the phases of the moon, and mapped the Milky Way.
• At Cicada Central from Staten Island Museum we listened to cicadas, used microscopes to peer at them and other specimens.

SCIENCE CENTRAL

• At Eat—Play—Learn!  We learned about healthy food and energetic movement to create a smarter and happier brain.
• At braiNY we discovered genetics in action by operating a microscope to reveal striking differences between live normal and mutant worms.
• At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory using a 3D brain app, we learned about the latest developments in our understanding of the brain.
• It was too crowded to visit Brain Games. Hopefully the next year we will have more luck.

SPACE PLACE

• At Amateur Astronomers Association of New York we looked through the lens of solar telescopes and tried to see the surface of the Sun.

INNOVATION ALLEY

• At Blue Man Group tent we created music and a light show using one-of-a-kind instrument, equipped with acoustics, electronic sounds, and LED lighting.
• At New York City/New Jersey FIRST Robotics we watched different size robots in action.
• We had no chance to learn how to code and check out games made by other CoderDojo kids.

DISCOVERY LANE

• We were absolutely fascinated with the experiments presented by Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum team. We learned what it is like in outer space. We watched different objects, such as: ringing bell, deflated or inflated balloon, a glass of water, placed in a bell jar, and what happened to them when the air was removed. Fascinating!
• Barbara also liked Carmelo The Science Fellow Magic of Chemistry. She was changing solids into liquid then gas, created Alka-Seltzer rocket and produced some not-so-typical slime.
• At Lynn Brunelle’s Pop Bottle Science and Camp Out Experiments we crush a pop bottle with the power of the atmosphere, made a lava lamp, and blew up a balloon without using mouth.
• At New York Hall of Science we created giant bubbles.
• At ScrapKins we joined ScrapKins, an industrious monster tribe living in a recycling center and turned towel tubes into a new creature.
• At Museum of Interesting Things we traced the evolution of inventions that have made communication what it is today, including telegraphs, box wooden telephones, teletypes, crystal radios, pigeon post, cell phones, and computers. We also listened to an Edison cylinder phonograph.

Unfortunately we had not enough time to visit International Flavors and Fragrances Smell Lab to design own fragrance and learn about the elements needed to create a scent or Museum of Mathematics to watch math come to life. We also had to skip Stone Rubbing with the Beijing Cultural Center for China Originality, so couldn’t make copies using stones, create stone rubbings, or learn calligraphy. The next year we will devote more time to explore all.

The Ultimate Science Street Fair was a great experience.