Science Saturdays

Samantha Saville
The Paw Print

Science Saturdays, headed by Randy Emmons, is designed to give kids a more hands-on relationship with science. Since the education system is so limited, kids do not always have the opportunity to become interested in science. This program shows them how science can be applied to real life and, amazingly, it tends to hold kid’s attention spans for two and a half hours instead of the traditional two hours.

The program on Saturday mornings is now being split into two separate groups. The morning group starting at 9 a.m. is for younger children who want to apply science in a more hands-on way. The afternoon course for older kids shows them how to make calculations, how to use science, and then allows them participate in the activities.

 This past week the kids built bridges and tested to see how much weight their structures could hold. In the morning, seven children came to build bridges. They were first allowed to play with all the science toys while the parents had a meeting about how to help their kids successfully learn how to construct their bridges. Randy Emmons always encourages the parents to be involved in Science Saturdays. It not only teaches the kids about science, but also teaches the parents.

While explaining the project to the kids and parents, Randy Emmons also explained terminology so the kids can explain their projects to people in the future and take something more away from the project than just gluing sticks together. The kids then had to make blueprints of their bridges to ensure they knew how to build them.

When testing the bridges, the kids were first required to practice safety rules and put on safety glasses. Also, they were supposed to predict how their bridge was going to break. This got the kids thinking about how this test could apply to real life.

One of the older students who participated in the program was at both sessions, the hands-on session and the math session. She said that she loved the program because it has given her the knowledge of science so she can spot it in real life. She now wants to become some kind of scientist.

This program is wonderful for children of all ages. Every Saturday in the community center on campus there is interactive learning going on that is sparking kids’ interest. Last Saturday (March 20) there were over 120 kids who showed up to learn how to build robots.

Saturday, April 3 the children will be learning all about the constellations in the planetarium on campus.  Saturday, April 10 the Colorado Robot Challenge will be held at the Sand Dunes National Park in the lower parking lot at 9 a.m. This is a NASA sponsored event and people of all ages are welcome to participate, not just kids.