The monthly science cafe offers ABSS middle schoolers the opportunity to learn about a variety of STEM-related topics.
The Elon Explorers summer science enrichment program extended its efforts into the fall this year with the monthly Science Slices initiative, which expands upon the work done each summer with local Alamance-Burlington School System middle school students.
The final Science Slices event of the semester was held on Wednesday, Dec. 13, on Alamance Community College’s main campus and focused on the topic of “Animal Adventures: Protecting Wildlife and Their Homes Together. Each Science Slices event this fall offered the opportunity for ABSS students and their parents to engage with experts from different scientific fields with hands-on activities and engaging discussions.
Richard von Furstenberg, a graduate student researcher at N.C. State University studying human interaction with wildlife, was the guest speaker at the Dec. 13 event and spoke on the different challenges of taking care of wildlife, such as habitat loss and coexistence with humans.
There was also a chance for those in attendance to share their feelings about animals and come to an understanding of how to balance what people need with keeping all kinds of animals safe. “This evening isn’t just about problems … we’re going to get your brain buzzing with ideas on how we can take care of animals and their homes in new and smart ways,” the description for the event promised. “Together, we’re going on a journey to figure out how you and others can help our planet’s amazing variety of life.”
That was the science — and for the slices? Those in attendance enjoyed a pizza dinner to go along with a night of science enrichment.
“Students learned about how researchers study people’s feelings and thoughts about wildlife, to make decisions that support wildlife and also align with what people need,” said Jen Hamel, associate professor of biology and co-lead for the Elon Explorers program. “Rich engaged the audience by asking them what they thought on a survey app and then showing them the data. Students and families explored N.C. wildlife species by handling real specimens, hides and skeletons, which they loved.”
The first Science Slices event was held in March 2022 and the series covered a multitude of topics. This fall semester, local middle schoolers learned about building particulate matter sensors from the the Environmental Protection Agency’s Research Triangle Park’s Speakers Bureau, robotics with Elon Associate Professor of Engineering Blake Hament and human anatomy with Elon Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Education Paula DiBiasio.
Mark Enfield, co-lead of Elon Explorers and associate professor of education, is proud of how the Science Slices events involve entire families. The other Elon Explorers programs — a summer bug camp and a one-day spring break institute — focus on the students, but the Science Slices events are intentionally designed to include families.
“One purpose of these events is to build community around science, particularly for middle school students and their families,” Enfield said. “When I say build community, we include everyone in this program.”
Elon Explorers is one of the Student STEM Enrichment Programs (SSEP) in North Carolina and received a grant of $147,570 from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund in September 2021. The grant allowed for the program to expand into year-round programming, such as the monthly Science Slices science cafes.
After the end of the three-year Burroughs Wellcome Fund grant, the program will be looking for funding to grow the program in other areas of STEM and to help it become a long-term offering for the community at Elon.
“We are happy that many of the students and families have attended multiple Science Slices events and many of the students in our other programs also attend Science Slices,” Hamel said. “This kind of participation demonstrates the community building that Mark mentioned — community building around enthusiasm for STEM!”