Workshop #1 - Prepare for the April 2024 Total Eclipse!

Through this open-ended hands-on workshop for teachers, students, and families, you will learn about the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024: Why are such eclipses visible in only certain parts of the world, and why do they occur so infrequently? How are solar eclipses different from lunar eclipses? Participants can also assemble and take home low-tech equipment with which to safely view the total eclipse. Teaching resources used in this workshop have been developed by the Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT), who work in partnership with the American Association of Physics Teachers with support from NASA. The teaching resources are available open-source at: https://aapt.org/Resources/NASA_HEAT.cfm.

With Dr. Bradley Ambrose of the GVSU Physics Department

Workshop #2 - Solar Cybugs

Create a solar powered cybug in this hands-on workshop. Participants will build a small circuit of a motor and solar cell and attach it to a small substrate on legs. Turn on the lights (or sun) and watch the little cybug skitter across a surface. All materials are provided in this make-and-take workshop best for engineers 10+. Junior engineers (9 years and younger) are welcome but will need some assistance with taping and hot gluing. Drop-in activity ~ 20 minutes to complete.

With Sara Maas of the Padnos College of Computing and Engineering

Astronaut Talk - Live at 6:30pm, Friday February 16, 2024

Dr. Robert Satcher (his friends call him Bobby) is an astronaut, an engineer, and a medical doctor. For Dr. Satcher, keep astronauts healthy is just as important as making sure rockets are safe.

In a lot of ways, the International Space Station, which is full of astronauts orbiting our planet, can be understood as a hospital or laboratory that floats above us in space! The astronauts there do experiments, try new equipment, and learn how to take care of people in space (or on the Moon or on Mars). 

Because the astronauts can't just come back to Earth when they don't feel well, NASA workers figured out how to have doctor's appointments from space, using video calls - and those of us on Earth can use the same technology. NASA is also working on to do surgeries in space, which will be important when we send astronauts to faraway places like Mars.

Dr. Satcher flew on the Space Shuttle and did two spacewalks. He uses what he learned in space to help make people better here on Earth. This is a great chance to learn about medicine in space and meet a real astronaut.

After the workshops and before Dr. Satcher's talk, have a space snack! A reception with a variety of delicious appetizers starts at 5:30pm.

Local students between 4th and 8th grade will be competing in Roger That!'s Design That! design challenge. You and your younger companions can check out their entries and vote for your favorite!