Science in the Parks a hit

Hear it! See it! Build it! Move it! Feel it! These are the daily themes of Science in the Parks, a program managed by WSU professor of physics Adam Johnston. For six weeks every summer, Johnston oversees groups of Weber State University students as they run activities designed to show children that science can be playful.

On Build It! Day, children can play with magnets, build boats out of aluminum foil to see how much weight they can carry, play with static electricity, cut helicopters out of paper or watch water tornadoes spin in bottles. Little instruction occurs, as the students’ goal is to give the children a hands-on experience.

Other activities include playing with lenses and prisms, building string telephones, making slime, blowing giant bubbles and launching rockets. Every day features activities corresponding to the given theme.

The program began four years ago and has been growing ever since.

“Each year we have grown a little more, both with numbers of children and numbers of volunteers,” Johnston said. “This year we have had about 40 different volunteers at different times, and this is really important to the success of the program.”

Any WSU student can volunteer, though most are science or elementary education majors. Sharon Gatrell, a piano performance major, is one of the exceptions.  She has volunteered for three of the four years the program has been running.  On Build It! Day, she is helping with water tornadoes.

“We have a lot more people helping out, and have fine-tuned some activities for the kids to make it more fun,” Gatrell said. 

Science in the Parks is part of the Ottreach program, the community outreach wing of the Ott Planetarium. When coming up with an idea to help children realize science is everywhere, Ottreach had planned to host a science camp on campus.

“But then we realized that we were going to be able to reach many, many more children if we took the science to them,” Johnston said.

Though the number of children attending varies, attendance is usually between 100 and 200. Ogden City School District hosts a free lunch program at these same parks during the same time frame, so often most of the children are already there. Other groups, such as Youth Impact, bring vans full of children to participate.

Science in the Parks also provides an opportunity for WSU students to volunteer and gain teaching experience. The number of volunteers present can also vary from day to day.

“We have another tent and some more tables, so we can set up more activities if we need to,” said Karen Nelson, a recent WSU graduate in microbiology.    

The program is sponsored by the Ott Planetarium, WSU’s Center for Science and Math Education, Weber County R.A.M.P. and the Utah Families Foundation, in cooperation with Ogden School District’s free lunch program.

More information — including the recipes for bubble solution and goo — can be found at http://community.weber.edu/ottreach/parks.html