Photo by Bryce Richter/UW–Madison Communications
A student learns the science of bubbles with the help of Andrew Denu, then a biology undergrad with ARMS.
Photo courtesy of UW–Madison/Forward Motion
Peterson, who also does science outreach at the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center, says that the most important thing is to create excitement. “A lot of times, Dolly tells us we just want you to go get the kids excited,” Peterson says. “Do your best, get your science point across, try to teach them some things—but just get them engaged in science. Make them want to learn more. Which I think is a really cool approach!” Building excitement and curiosity, Gasch says, is the trick to connecting young minds to science. “The main goal isn’t to just learn facts,” Gasch says. “I care about kids being able to learn about a fact and then think about it critically. My main goal is to use science as a tool to teach critical thinking.” Gasch is developing a new program called “Ask a Scientist.” The premise is simple: Get kids excited about science by encouraging them to continually ask questions, and then recruit UW scientists to help answer those questions. She piloted the program last year at Lowell Elementary and now is working to expand it. “It’s like having a science pen pal,” says Gasch.
Professors Audrey Gasch and Sean Schoville believe in the power of ARMS. Photo courtesy of Sean Schoville
The learning is a two-way street, notes entomology professor Sean Schoville, another ARMS participant. “The teachers have incredible knowledge of how to get kids excited and to engage them in hands-on teaching,” he says. “So they have, in turn, taught me quite a bit about teaching.” Melina Lozano, a teacher at Hawthorne Elementary in Madison, has partnered with ARMS for years and says working with UW scientists has made a big impact on her two-thirds bilingual classroom. “My students need as many high-quality educational experiences with adults as possible,” says Lozano. “And working with talented young scientists at UW–Madison has been an indispensable experience.” An important part of the ARMS outreach team is the many undergraduates who work with the schools on a weekly basis. Students like senior biology major Hanna Peterson, who has been involved with school science outreach since she took a service learning course taught by Dolly Ledin.
—Mark Bennett
Meat Meets the Future
Illustration courtesy of Potter Lawson
If you’ve taken a stroll on Observatory Drive of late, then maybe, just maybe, you’ve noticed a 1.75-acre construction site roughly across from the Natatorium. It is the home of the future Meat Science Building, slated for completion in October 2018 and opening for use in January 2019.
Beyond meat science, the state-of-the-art facility will be used by researchers from engineering, veterinary medicine, animal sciences, food safety and biology. That reflects the project’s mission to serve not only as a home for developing the best, safest meats but also as a hub for high-value non-food products for use in human and veterinary medicine.
To stay current on the project, including seeing the latest photos, visit http://meatsciences.cals.wisc.edu/.
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