PhD student Camaryn Bennett is going to have a ball at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry this Saturday.
She’s actually going to have several.
“My demonstration is all about throwing bouncy balls around and understanding why some of them bounce and some of them don't,” said Bennett, who is studying polymers at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME). “This will help kids learn about collecting data and forming hypotheses in the scientific method, as well as what causes a polymer to get elastic.”
Bennett is one of the UChicago PME PhD students who will be demonstrating polymers, chemistry, physics – even quantum mechanics – for the public as part of UChicago PME’s yearly STEM Showcase the morning of Saturday, April 12.
“You never know who you will meet, you can show someone something they've never seen before, or you can learn something yourself,” said participant Liela Clarke, a UChicago PME PhD student and research assistant at Argonne National Laboratory. “Especially for children, if you can spark a curiosity or interest in science, there's no telling how far they'll go.”
The event is free with cost of museum admission.
“An interactive event with STEM professionals is a great opportunity for students to build on their scientific knowledge by engaging with hands-on activities. This allows them the chance to engage with scientific processes and see themselves as scientists,” said museum Community Outreach Liaison Makayla Parkinson. “Meeting directly with scientists can offer an insight into the STEM field and the ability to learn more about specific scientific careers.”
The STEM Showcase is part of a slate of outreach events UChicago PME runs, including the No Small Matter Molecular Engineering Fair coming up on April 25, the yearly Battery Day at the museum in the fall and the ongoing Junior Science Cafés at neighborhood middle schools each spring.
“Dry-ice bubbles, jelly marbles, and drawing with lasers – is there a better way to spend a Saturday morning?” said Assistant Dean of Education and Outreach Laura Rico-Beck.
These outreach events are designed not only as opportunities to explore fun, hands-on science, but also to foster meaningful interactions between the public and scientists.
“Some of my favorite moments at the Showcase happen when a demonstration sparks a rich conversation about science in everyday life,” Rico-Beck said, reflecting on the power of these events to ignite curiosity and dialogue.
Seriously silly science
Any demonstration – no matter how bouncy, colorful, oozy, gooey, glowing or mind-meltingly incandescent – has to be based on firm scientific principles. Uniting the serious and the silly is just one of the skills UChicago PME’s Science Communications Program teaches.
The program helped immunoengineering PhD candidate Ian Woodhouse design a simple yet elegant “peg-in-a-hole” game that is both a fun, hands-on activity for kids and shows how the immune system knows which cells to attack.
“I want to demystify science,” Woodhouse said. “I think for a lot of people, science is seen as this huge obstacle to the point that it is intimidating to even start learning it, much less believe that you yourself can become an expert.”
School-aged fun doesn’t mean school-aged science. Suraj Sudhakar plans to demonstrate the famous two-photon double-slit experiment, a fun, visual and very cool lightshow that underlies the basics of all quantum technology today.
“I respect outreach events like this, because they instill a curiosity about science to the local community and also help the students train their communication skills,” Sudhakar said. “I believe that our research is successful only if we are able to communicate it to the people around us.”
The purpose isn’t having children leave the museum experts on Quantum, Immunoengineering, Materials for Sustainability or any of the other areas in which UChicago PME researchers excel. It’s about showing that science is for everybody.
“Science should not feel distant or exclusive,” said UChicago PME PhD candidate Giuseppe Lauricella. “It should be accessible, engaging, and relevant to everyone’s lives.”