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Winter
2001 Volume 3, Number 2
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 Camps transform children into scientists By Deborah A. Benedetti A new series of summer day camps is opening the world of science to children. More than 80 children in grades six to nine participated in the first Action Potential Science Day Camps sponsored by the Eberly College of Science, according to the camp director, Dr. Rebecca Moore Peterson. Since this yea’'s camps were sponsored by the Department of Biology, they focused on the life sciences and were also developed and administered by Dianne Burpee, the Action Potential biology lab director and an instructor/lab coordinator for the department. “These camps are a great way for children to explore the principles and methods of modern scientific research,” Peterson said. Children had opportunities to discover the answers to many scientific questions, including:
The budding scientists also learned how to solve some biological mysteries, such as:
Penn State faculty members, graduate students and undergraduate student mentors taught the programs. The children gained hands-on experience running experiments in science labs and learned how to use the scientific method to investigate the cells and tissues of a variety of organisms. They also studied basic cellular functions and processes. Before joining the Penn State faculty as an instructor and coordinator of biology first-year seminars in June 1999, Peterson was involved in a similar program at Tufts University. There she conducted an after-school science program for underprivileged middle school students. “That experience helped me to see how important it is to get young people interested in science at an early age. It also taught me that kids need to be challenged by hands-on, experience-based laboratory sessions that help them to see that science can be fun, too,” she said. Even though the Action Potential Science Camps grew out of Peterson’s experience at Tufts University, the Eberly College of Science has been working on setting up a program like Action Potential for some time. As Peterson explained, just as many chemical reactions require a catalyst to enable the reaction to proceed, the Eberly College of Science also needed a faculty member to take the lead on this type of programming. She sees herself merely as the catalyst that finally made the science camps a reality. “Dr. Norman Freed has been a driving force behind this project,” Peterson said. “Furthermore, our Eberly College of Science faculty members have been so enthusiastic about sharing their research with a new generation of young people, so the campers have had the rare opportunity of discussing the exciting research under way at Penn State with the researchers themselves. Likewise, graduate and undergraduate student mentors have been able to share their creativity and knowledge outside of their own classrooms and in a different setting. Thus, students at all levels have been able to benefit from this program.”  Outreach
and Cooperative Extension’s Program Innovation Fund also is supporting
the camps through a grant to the Eberly College of Science.“Next year, we are planning to offer both day and resident camps and science institutes for K–12 teachers,” she said. “We are also planning a new chemistry camp based on a previous successful initiative known as ‘Chem Camp’ that was offered by the Department of Chemistry in the early 1990s.” Information about future Action Potential Science Camps is available on the Web at www.bio.psu.edu/ActionPotential.  An outreach program of the Eberly College of Science
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Dr.
Donald A. Streit
Dr.
A.J. TurgeonU.Ed.OCE 01-8002/mkm/GSM