Campus Connection

UW-L students demonstrate magic, relevance of science to area kids

[caption id="attachment_40606" align="alignright" width="593"] A child at The Children's Museum of La Crosse participates in a physics demonstration led by UW-L students in a Physical Science for Educators course. UW-L students and faculty have been partnering with the museum to do educational demonstrations since 2009. Photo courtesy of The Children's Museum of La Crosse.[/caption] The Children’s Museum of La Crosse recognized UW-La Crosse’s Physics Education faculty and students as the 2015 Judith A. Bouffleur Outstanding Volunteers of the Year. The award was presented Monday, April 20. Since 2009, more than 500 UW-L students in a physical science for educators course have engaged museum visitors in hands-on physics demonstrations, ultimately reaching thousands of kids in the Coulee Region. “It’s so important for young kids to see science as being fun and relevant to their own lives,” says Jennifer Docktor, who teaches the physics education course. “Hopefully these events will spark an interest in learning science — both among kids and their parents.” A collaboration between the museum and UW-L’s Physics Department started in 2009 to offer a service-learning component to Physics 106: Physical Science for Educators. The students, all elementary and middle school education majors, volunteer as part of the museum’s STEM Saturdays, which occur once or twice a month. They engage audiences in easy-to-understand demonstrations they’ve developed such as riding on a hovercraft, using an air bazooka to shoot a ping pong ball through empty soda cans, exploring objects that float and sink in water, making their hair stand up with electricity and investigating magnets. [caption id="attachment_40608" align="alignright" width="350"] A UW-La Crosse student works with a child on a physics activity through the partnership with The Children's Museum of La Crosse.[/caption] “Children’s Museum families and guests rave over the UW-L Physics Department programming,” says Christina Knudsen, of the Children’s Museum. “We are so grateful to the department for the continued partnership. The ideas and offerings incorporate family learning and the discovery of the magic of Physics. We look forward to many more years.” UW-L students also enjoy the opportunity to work with area kids at the museum. They consistently rank the experience as their favorite aspect of the physical science course. Volunteering in outreach activities gives UW-L students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in their courses and practice communicating it to a general audience of young children and parents, says Gubbi Sudhakaran, chair of UW-L’s Physics Department. The UW-L Physics Department volunteers in more ways than one. Each year since 1994, at the end of the spring semester, the department offers a Physics Extravaganza and Laser Shows to 600-800 area school children over one week. They also do physics fairs and demonstration shows at area schools upon request. In Spring 2014, 80 UW-L students volunteered at a three-day physics fair at the EcoPark environmental center for 400 sixth graders from three local schools.