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:
Science centers in ten additional cities will sponsor Public Science Day events:
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.