2016-2017 Tour: Discovery Begins With You
This year’s tour is a nod to CNS slogan; it’s echoed in our introduction and closing in each of our programs.
Most weeks during the semester, the Little Shop van takes half a ton of hands-on science experiments and half a dozen tie-dye-clad facilitators to an area school. A typical visit involves 2 staff members, 2-3 undergraduate interns, and 2-3 volunteers.
Heather Michalak helps a group of elementary school students explore the Human Powered Clock.
The centerpiece of all of our programs is the hands-on component. Students work with the 100+ science experiment stations we bring, aided and assisted by the staff and undergraduate interns and volunteers.
Many of our interns—such as Katie Wybenga, above—are planning to be science teachers. There are dozens of area science educators who got their start in the Little Shop.
Numbers for a typical year:
- 30+ schools
- 12,000+ K-12 students
- 12 undergraduate interns
- 300+ undergraduate volunteers
The scale of schools visited, the focus on hands-on instruction, and the involvement of undergraduate students, make this program unique nationally.
