UAF science night draws large crowd in Dillingham
March 31, 2015
Meghan Murphy
907-474-7541
3/30/2015
More than 250 people from Dillingham, Alaska, attended a community science night March 27, hosted through the Alaska Summer Research Academy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. People attending the evening event enjoyed science-related activities, including a traveling planetarium show, a bike that generates electricity, and a meet and greet with some goats and rabbits.
Biology and wildlife graduate student Heather Craig organized the event, enlisting the help of UAF's Bristol Bay Campus, the UA Museum of the North, the Geophysical Institute, 4-H and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which all provided activities. Craig also visited the city's schools and gave science presentations to more than 400 elementary and secondary students.
She said the event and school visits give the community an opportunity to meet scientists and see that science is fun.
"We engage students and their families in really fun activities," she said. "Then we explain how the science works, and it makes them realize that they can learn from every situation."
Craig is organizing a community science night in Nome, Alaska, on April 24. Every year ASRA organizes two community science nights in rural communities where UAF has campuses, including Dillingham, Nome, Bethel and Kotzebue. New York Life funds the program.
ASRA's director, Laura Conner, said the program helps the Fairbanks campus connect with its rural campuses and work together to bring more family-friendly science activities to rural communities.
"The community science night is a way for entire families to come and experience science together," she said.
ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Heather Craig, 907-474-7144, hrcraig@alaska.edu
To see more pictures: http://kdlg.org/post/hands-science-learning-dillingham