The Arizona Science Center’s Science on Wheels mobile unit visited the Camp Verde Community Library on Aug. 31, for an evening of STEM activities, giveaways and more.
CVCL said the casual, drop-in, open-house style event was designed to fit family schedules.
As soon as the event tables were set up, eager families began to explore the Science Center’s offerings, which included free school supplies, books and a variety of activities.
“All of the supplies we’re giving away are concentrated for back-to-school, but the main focus for this particular program is to help families out after COVID-19 that are trying to bounce back from that,” Educator and Assistant Manager for Science on Wheels Vanessa Gutierrez said.
Activities included a “form builder” where children could create their own 2D and 3D shapes and a planetary density interactive which used cups filled with loose change to represent the various weights of planets in our solar system.
Perhaps the most exciting activity for both children and parents were the space postcards.
“This particular activity is really cool,” Gutierrez said. “We’re partnering with Blue Origin [Aerospace Company]. Families and children can write their names and addresses and draw a little picture on the back, and we’ll send it out onto the next thing that goes into outer space. Once we get it back we’ll stamp it with an ‘I’ve been to outer space’ stamp and send it back to them.”
Gutierrez said that the mobile unit often travels to under-serviced communities and offers a variety of programs in addition to Science on Wheels, such as the Native Health program.
“With Native Health, we’re working with them to provide virtual kits with supplies that they can do at home,” she said.
One example of a virtual kit project is a “scribble-bot,” which is produced by affixing a pool noodle and markers to an electric toothbrush.
“It’s basically an over-sized squiggle pen,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez described additional outreach programs which provide opportunities to learn about various cultural traditions, such as working with natural dyes.
“We go into different types of Latin American cultural dyes, we go to Peru, to Colombia,” she said. “We do a second portion where we focus on local plants and flowers that are native here and we take a cloth and pound them to make a print.”
“It’s really fun and a great way to let out some anger,” she laughed.
Gutierrez described commonalities of the children she works with.
“They’re appreciative,” she said. “They don’t want to take too many supplies because they don’t want to take away from someone who is in need.”
Gutierrez said the Science Center is always trying to reach out to children, parents, libraries and resource centers.
“We’re always wondering if there’s a lack in the community; we don’t want to see it, we want to fill it,” she said. “Reaching out to us just as much as we reach out to them is really important.”
While the Science Center receives funding from a variety of corporations such as Boeing, Ford Motor Company and Microsoft-Intel, Gutierrez said the center also accepts donations.
For Science on Wheels, the center receives funding from AZ OnTrack, a state-funded initiative which was designed to overcome learning loss that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic.
“With this particular program and funding with AZ OnTrack, we’ve been able to go to every single county, which is amazing,” Gutierrez said. “We’ve been to some, a little bit more than others, but our true hit is rural communities to try and really get the word out there.”
