Hands-On Science Camp a Hit with Students

Several hundred Syracuse City School District students spent the first week in August making boomerangs, racing hovercrafts and participating in an FBI manhunt. Those activities and many more were all part of interactive science week at Syracuse University.

The program, a one week science enrichment opportunity, was designed to enhance students understanding of scientific concepts by giving them the opportunity to do hands-on experiments. A full slate of daily activities had participants moving from station to station, fostering learning and inquiry-based thinking.

The students, in grades 6-10, worked in groups separated by grade level. They learned about a number of things including DNA and heredity, forensics, states of matter and aerodynamic engineering.

In the quad outside Bowne Hall students worked on boomerangs, first making sure they had everything aerodynamically aligned so the boomerangs came back to them, and then decorating and personalizing the mini-flyers. In rooms inside Bowne Hall, students used Legos to make robots that they then tested in the halls outside of classrooms. They also spent time learning about polymers and the solar system.

As the week went on, participants learned about the body, attending classes on DNA and heredity, breaking bones, the human heart and obesity, and living your liver. The program’s last day included an overview of crime scene investigations, a class on profiling the dead, a class on blood types and splatter, and a class on hair and fiber types.

The science camp was sponsored by the Partnership for a Better Education, Interactive Science Programs, Onondaga Community College CSTEP Program, SUNY ESF, Syracuse City School District, Syracuse STEP Program and 100 Black Men of Syracuse.