Seattle's Mobile Science Lab

 

Q. Schools make a convincing case that they can't afford to provide very elaborate science facilities. So what's being done to bring quality science experiences to kids from the outside community?

 

One of the neatest examples is the new (fall 2009) high-tech science lab in a truck that is being dispatched to schools in Washington by the local Children's Hospital.

 

The $600,000 Science Adventure Lab was built with donations and has scheduled visits with up to 5,000 Washington State students from fourth to eighth grades each year.

 

Staff members are Ph.D.'s in science who also have gotten their truck-driving licenses in order to bring the science experiences to the students.

 

 

 

 

Teachers have their choice of four lesson plans with experiments that teach kids about topics including nutrition, asthma and infectious diseases. In one of the first activities, they were able to separate and view a strand of their own DNA with a pipette from inside their cheeks.

 

The mobile science lab came about when community leaders realized that too few Washington students were choosing to major in science and equip themselves for technology and science careers. It is hoped that the hands-on experiences they'll have in the mobile lab will spark a lifelong interest.

 

Homework: See

 www.seattlechildrens.org/adventurelab/?src=adventurelab_email_press-release_adventurelab_092209_75394#