The Belleville Public Library and Information Center has partnered with the Rutgers Graduate Studies department for a series of on site demonstrations for kids in grades 5-8. The program is free of charge and will take place in the library’s second floor conservatory. These are great for our home school kids and fun for all.
The Department of Marine & Coastal Sciences at Rutgers has partnered with the Department of Youth Development to provide several programs for the public at libraries across NJ. Programs will be taught by faculty, graduate students, and/or education professionals here at Rutgers.
Below are a list of the programs that will be coming to Belleville.
Explorers of the Deep
Deep dive into the ocean with this Stem Challenge.
Designed by Rutgers University, the 2022 4-H STEM Challenge Explorers of the Deep focuses on the mysteries and adventures of ocean exploration- with robots and more! Young people will learn how to use STEM to explore Earth’s Ocean and how it relates to all life on the planet.
Engineering and Design Ocean Robot Test Tank is an activity where youth learn how to “ballast” their ocean robot by adding weights to replicate the sinking and floating behavior of a real ocean robot. They will investigate data collected by ocean robots and learn about the value of ocean exploration.
One Fish, Two Fish
Why are there dead fish?
“Students delve into an investigation of New Jersey marine ecology; understanding the animals, habitat and environmental issues of the Raritan Bay and surrounding areas. We will explore food webs, water quality and the human impact effects as students look into the causes of a hypothetical fish kill event discovering the concept of eutrophication.” (sciencebus.rutgers.edu)
Something’s Fishy in the Raritan Bay.
Life on Other Planets
Are we alone in the Universe? How did life begin on this planet?
Join NASA-funded researchers from the ENIGMA project as we explore how life developed on this planet and how life could have formed on other planets, including Mars! Youth will engage in hands-on learning and discussions with Rutgers educators and researchers.
Activities:
- Build a model Solar System: Make and take home your own solar system
- Is it alive? Explore what is alive or not alive with hands-on experiments with yeast
- Extremophiles: Explore extreme environments and build your own fictional extreme creature that can only live in a specific environment on one of the planets.
- Foldoscopes: Build and take home a paper microscope that brings unknown worlds to life!
