Over the weekend, UW Science Expeditions welcomed community members from children to retirees for three days of science exploration with 96 stations, seven science exhibits and three documentaries spread across 24 venues on campus.
UW-Madison’s 13th annual science open house gave the public an opportunity to actively engage with university faculty and students through hands-on experimentation.
UW Science Expeditions Coordinator Tom Zinnen described the open house as a chance to build the scientific outreach on campus.
“The metaphor I use is the science community is a vine that grows and the Science Expeditions is a catalyst that gives us something to grow on,” Zinnen said.
The expedition kicked off Friday with an evening focused on DNA of unidentified World War II soldiers and the biological processes of Wisconsin’s fermentation at the Genetics-Biotechnology Center building. Zinnen said these events were meant to draw adult participation.
“We want to let older members know there is events for them as well, even if they don’t have a child or grandchild to bring,” Zinnen said.
Saturday was packed with exploration stations, demonstration shows and interactive exhibits for entire families. Community members gathered at the Discovery Building to perform experiments with each station focused on a particular branch of science.
Matt Dent, a volunteer with chemistry professor Judith Burstyn’s research group, said these experiments can help get young children excited about science.
“It’s really important to have hands-on and visual activities at a young age. We probably all have memories that really motivated us to do science,” Dent said. “You need to have those opportunities to make those memories.”
The opportunities continued from stations into demonstration shows like Wonders of Physics. These shows encouraged the kids’ curiosity through vibrant demos like musical Tesla coils.
Michael Randall, a coordinator for Wonders of Physics, sees the crucial resource of inspiring children with science.
“We are losing our most valuable resource, our kids’ minds, because we are not inspiring them, particularly at an early age,” Randall said. “It’s so important that people get the value of science and, particularly for the younger minds, that they get excited about it.”
