The Elizabethtown College chapter of the National Science Teachers Association has been actively engaging the local community in a variety of new science-based activities. Etown’s chapter of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) hosted the first meeting of the Science Explorer’s Club last Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Elizabethtown Public Library. The Science Explorer’s Club provides fourth through eighth grade students with an opportunity to delve into current issues in science.
“This year the theme is ‘alternative energy,’” chapter president and senior Bethany Otwell said. “We did a basic lesson on electricity last night, and we actually used lemons to make a battery to power a light bulb.” Otwell said the citrus-based electricity activity was “a pretty big hit” with the students.
Education majors at Etown are involved in planning and teaching lessons to the Science Explorer’s Club. Designed to require creative thinking, the lessons inspire open-mindedness among the children. In the following weeks, the NSTA plans to write lessons and teach students about wind energy, hydroelectric power and thermal energy. Each lesson uses principles of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to investigate alternative energy.
“We hope to achieve more interest, especially in younger ages, in STEM by engaging with the community,” Otwell said.
The Science Explorer’s Club meets Thursdays in October and November at 6:30 p.m. at the Elizabethtown Public Library.
While the Science Explorer’s Club is geared towards older elementary school students, the NSTA also aims to involve younger community members in the active process of learning science. On Nov. 1, the NSTA will host “Into the Wild,” an event for children ages three through eight.
“Our goal for ‘Into the Wild’ is to bring more of a younger age group into the interest of science,” Otwell said. “Into the Wild” will introduce children to habitats and biomes, including rainforest, ocean, desert, tundra and savanna. Children will learn about major characteristics of the habitats and the animals living within them. NSTA and the Elizabethtown College Education Organization have partnered for “Into the Wild” and members of the clubs have volunteered to write and teach lessons.
In addition to teaching local community members, the NSTA is planning to expand and work with children throughout Lancaster County. “I and Dr. Bowman and Professor Bellew met with the people at the Lancaster Science Factory just before fall break, and we discussed the possibility of partnering with them in the spring for our Super Science Saturday event,” Otwell said. Super Science Saturday is one of the largest NSTA-sponsored events in the spring semester and previously was only open to the community surrounding the College. “We’re hoping for a good combination of the people we usually have coming to our events and reaching out to new people at the Science Factory as well,” Otwell said. The NSTA expects to have around 200 children attend the Super Science Saturday event in the spring. “We’re hoping to reach as many kids as we really can,” Otwell said.