These bright eyes and smiling faces couldn’t possibly belong to scientists researching the physical forces on masses traveling around a curve, could they?  

Scientists?  Kids??  Sure…research, experimentation, hypothesizing, predicting, and the best part, testing!  These kids look like they are having fun, and they are, but they are learning, too.  The best learning often is the result of hand-on activity, so, although these kids had great fun making the cars fly off the road, they will be thinking for days to come about which cars flew off faster and whether their predictions tested out or not…real science.

At the recent Family Science Festivals held in Lone Pine at Lo Inyo Elementary School and in Mammoth Lakes at Mammoth Elementary School, school kids and their families had an opportunity to experience a room full of exciting hands-on science activities, such as the one pictured here.  The festival was put on by Lawrence Hall of Science in partnership with the Eastern Sierra Institute for Collaborative Education for the Roadside Heritage Project. Featuring activities that illustrate the amazing science heritage to be found in the Eastern Sierra, the festival is designed to be a companion to Roadside Heritage’s upcoming audio program.  Both the festival and the audio program promote informal science learning and are funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.