Science is a field that stems from curiosity, and Alpha Chi Sigma’s Family Science Saturday is doing just that this weekend. The event serves as a celebration of the STEM field through hands-on science experiments and activities. Alpha Chi Sigma is a national fraternity for chemistry students at Ohio University.
“This is something with any of our outreach programs that we do through the university,” Mark Lucas, a professor of instruction in the department of physics and astronomy, said. “Part of it is giving students the opportunity to get out there and just nurture the next generation of scientists.”
The annual event began in 2011 after Lucas was contacted by students in Alpha Chi Sigma who were interested in creating an outreach program for the Athens community and OU students to attend.
“They (Alpha Chi Sigma) gave us the opportunity to bring in some of our physics toys, so in the early Family Science Saturdays, I'd say ‘Okay, just give me a room and we'll bring some of our fun stuff too,’” Lucas said. “But it really is the students running it, the students organizing it, the students deciding what they want to do and getting the word out.”
Family Science Saturday will be providing an array of science experiments for attendees to participate in, including working with dry ice and learning how to take fingerprints.
“One thing that my group is doing is dry ice,” Destini McCartney, a senior studying biochemistry and the outreach chair for Alpha Chi Sigma, said. “What we do is we literally just take a piece of dry ice, put it into warm water and it’ll sublime, so then a bunch of smoke will come off. We of course don't let the child touch the dry ice, but we'll let them feel the vase or pour some of the smoke onto their hands.”
McCartney says that hosting STEM opportunities is especially important for those living in rural areas, as they provide accessible science education that is open to all ages.
“I grew up in a more rural area,” McCartney said. “Honestly, for a lot of people, it's something to do, something fun, something engaging. Where I grew up, not a lot of kids had necessarily the opportunity to go to an event like this, so they were just pretty much stuck at home doing the same old thing every single day, and this is just something different and fun they get to experience.”
Lucas also says Family Science Saturday is equally as important for OU students since it serves as a teaching moment for them, which evolves into educational and personal connections with others interested in STEM.
“One of the other things that people don't always realize is the benefit for our own students because you're just learning how to communicate,” Lucas said. “There's a lot of cool in science, but you're learning how to communicate this to a wide range of ages. You see their excitement, and that helps you say, ‘Yeah, this is cool what I'm doing.’”
Zack Shober, a sophomore environmental health science major, also says that giving STEM majors more recognition through this event could help children experience new types of science.
“I think it's important to get the major out there because some people are unaware of the different paths that you can take,” Shober said. “Going there, you can experience everything you can see since there's multiple clubs there.”
Even with major setbacks like the COVID-19 pandemic, Alpha Chi Sigma’s reignition of Family Science Saturday is one that should be celebrated, especially as it’s student-run.
“One of the challenges with a student group is that you've got constant turnover, so the fact that they have been doing this every year except for the COVID years consistently and it's a tremendous service to the community,” Lucas said. “Parents love it, kids love it, and they've been able to keep this going, that is really important to me that they get credit for all that they've done.”
Family Science Saturday will be held in the Chemistry Building at 133 University Terrace from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on April 1. Admission is free for all. Free parking will also be provided in the Morton Hall parking lot.
