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Outreach Summer Newsletter - 08.31.2020 - Issue 6
Hello from the Office of Science Outreach at Penn State!
This issue of our Summer Newsletter is our last one! The school year is underway at Penn State and at many school districts so our thoughts are turning towards Fall. In this issue, we feature the Department of Entomology and its insect museum as our Outreach partner. We regularly collaborate with Penn State scientists from Entomology to run our Nature Explorers Science-U camp, so be sure to watch our video clip from last year's camp! Read about the ongoing webinars presented by the Chemistry Graduate Student Association, and then tune in for some more tips on chemistry demonstrations! Also, we have included some clues about plans for our Fall Science Outreach activities and a link to SciFest 2020! Finally, we would appreciate 2-3 minutes of your time to complete a short survey about our Summer Newsletter series. Please share your thoughts and your interest in us continuing the newsletters throughout the school year. Thank you in advance for your help!
Best wishes for the upcoming school year and Fall season! Stay safe and healthy!
Frost Entomological Museum
Are you interested in learning more about the natural world? Then we hope you enjoy browsing the website of The Frost Entomological Museum! The Frost museum houses many fascinating collections of insects and other terrestrial arthropods, and it is a valuable resource for science education. While currently closed, the museum maintains a weekly Frost Curators' blog about activities in Entomology.
The Department of Entomology website also has a page called Cool Sites for Kids. This web-page contains multiple links that encourage kids (of all ages!) to learn about Monarch butterflies, play bug games, and even identify and collect insects!
Our Science-U camp, Nature Explorers, works closely with scientists in the Entomology department and strives to foster curiosity about the natural world in our young campers. Check out the video from our 2019 camp to see all the fun ways that campers learn about insects and their environments!
Free Chemistry Webinars
The Chemistry Graduate Student Association is planning to host its third free webinar! This Virtual Scientist webinar is scheduled for Sunday, September 6th at 2:00 PM (Eastern Daylight Time) and is titled Surface Tension and Movement: Molecules that Stick Together Stay Together! Click the link below to learn more. If you missed the previous two webinars, the recorded versions are available as well!
Please take a few minutes to respond to the survey above and let us know what you liked about our Summer Newsletter series! We're also curious if you would be interested in us continuing the newsletters and how frequently. All answers are confidential and will help us in our future planning. Thank you!
What's in store for Fall?
Our Office of Science Outreach will continue to work remotely during Penn State's Fall semester. We are excited to be planning a Virtual Science Fair tentatively scheduled for late October! This event will combine many components from our Exploration-U: Community Science Nights and Haunted-U, our Halloween-themed campus event. These outreach science events in Centre County (PA) cannot be held this year due to social distancing. So we hope you will join us virtually from wherever you are!
Also, due to the success of our first Explore with Eberly - science camp for adults - held last January, we are considering hosting a virtual event for adults on a Saturday in November!
More information about the Virtual Science Fair and Explore with Eberly will be available on our website as plans develop! Check back in a few weeks!
SciFest All Access
The USA Science and Engineering Festival offers the only national science festival in Washington, DC. Two years ago, at the last festival, several groups from Penn State attended to share their research! The festival offers hands-on activities, conversations with STEM mentors, and engaging stage shows. While the festival is waiting to return to an in-person venue, it is offering a FREE virtual festival - SciFest All Access! It will be held September 16-23, 2020 and will have something for everyone - K-12 students, families, educators and college students! (Educators may want to use the content for virtual science classes!) Follow the link below for more information and to register for free today!
We would love to hear from you!
Email us at outreach@science.psu.edu
