UW-Whitewater Science Outreach

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On April 24th UW-Whitewater Science Outreach and Whitewater High School National Honor Society teamed up to bring a Family Science Night to Whitewater! UWW Faculty and Students prepared multiple different activities ranging from weather and climate to human anatomy all with the help of the high school staff and students! It was a great success and everybody  found something that interested them!  From bioloogy and chemistry to geography and physics, we had it all!! 

Water Filtration Activity

Kids making Slime!

Learning about weather instruments

The Whitewater High School National Honor Society and UW-Whitewater Science Outreach are teaming to bring Family Science Night to Whitewater on April 24th from 5-8pm in the Whitewater High School gym!  This fun, hands-on night of science is free and open to all students Pre-K through 12th grades and their families.  We hope to see you there!

Our newest program, Science Detectives Camp, is a 3-day summer day camp aimed at children entering 3-8th grades in the fall of 2013. The first two days of the camp will feature 1/2 day hands-on workshops in each of the following science disciplines: biology, chemistry, geography, and physics. The third day is a full day of your child’s favorite science! For more information or to register, visit this site: http://www.uww.edu/conteduc/camps/othercamps/detectives.php.

Space is limited so register now to ensure your child has his or her spot reserved!

UWW Science Outreach hosted a lot of programs and activities this past fall. Below is a recap of all the events and look forward to seeing them again next year!

• Science Discovery Day: The four science departments in Upham Hall got to show off their stuff as community members and students from both local and surrounding communities  got to tour the facilities. Not only did they get a tour but they also got to participate in hands on activities, demonstrations, tour the research labs, and learn about some of the great programs UWW has to offer like the Undergraduate Research Program! No matter what you were interested in we had something that you would have enjoyed! Keep you eyes peeled because we will have another next fall!

 Janesville GIS Day:  Science Outreach Coordinator Alisa Hass and Assistant Director of Pangea Studios Alvin Rentsch traveled to Janesville Middle School with student Erin Olshefski and Brandon Bockrath to teach the students about GIS. They did a hands on activity by showing them how they can learn about National Parks using GIS.

 Mukwonago High School: High School students from Mukwonago  took a field trip to our campus and did a GIS activity using handheld GPS units. They got hands on experience, working outside and learned how to import those data points using GIS to make a map. Afterwords they got to sit down and talk with undergraduate students to ask questions about college.

• Evansville High School: Evansville traveled to our campus to do a chemistry spectrometer lab with Professors Dr. John Ejnik and Dr. Kim Naber. These students got to experience upper level chemistry labs as well as learn more about the opportunities that UWW has to offer. Five UWW undergraduate students shared their experiences as science majors at UWW with the students at the end of the day.
• UWW Greenhouse Open House: The Biology Department and Science Outreach teamed up to put on an Open House to show off the newly expanded Greenhouse. It housed more than 100 plants, some of which we donated by organizations and students. Student volunteers and information were set up all over the greenhouse to educate the staff and students about the plants as they walked through the greenhouse.
• Chemistry Demonstrations: The UWW chemistry department likes to put on chemistry demonstrations to show off the cool things that you can do with chemicals. This is open to all ages and is not only fun but educational as well. Whitewater Middle School got to come to one of these demonstrations and had a blast!
• Dendrochronology with Whitewater High School: Students from an advanced ecology class offered at Whitewater High School teamed up with Science Outreach to gain hands on experience in dendrochronology. The students came to campus and got to take actual tree cores for a project they were working on in class. Not only did the students get to use the equipment but Petra Vande Zande (Biology teacher at the High School) got to point out real life examples of what she was teaching in her class to the students.

Join us September 29th for our Greenhouse Open House in the first floor of Upham Hall! Self guided tours run from 9:30-11am and 11:45am-2pm. Master Gardener Volunteer, Renata Bitoy will speak at 11am on vermicompost, edible weeds, and native plants. We hope to see you there!

Open House Flyer

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Science Outreach Office (SOO) is a new area on campus that specializes in offering exciting scientific educational opportunities for area schools, the community, and the University.  This blog will be the place to get updates on activities, programs, and events that the SOC is working on.

If you are interested in getting involved, helping out, or scheduling an event or program at your school or organization, please contact Alisa Hass, Science Outreach Coordinator, at hassa@uww.edu or 262-472-7161.  We look forward to hearing from you!