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There is Mother’s day, Father’s Day, Plant a Flower Day, and even National Pancake Day. There seems to be a day dedicated to everything in life, big and small. But guess who gets a whole week dedicated to them. Young children! The Week of the Young Child is promoted by NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), and is held every year in April. This year, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho of Miami-Dade County Public Schools joined the Principal of the Primary Learning Center and his students to enjoy the Week of the Young Child Celebration, hosted by Miami-Dade County Public Schools Office of Early Childhood Programs and the Primary Learning Center. Student, parents, school board employees and community members enjoyed a day full of interactive activities, food, and musical entertainment in celebration of young children. Check out the press release for last year’s event, and remember to join in next year!
 Museum staff from the ECHOS (Early Childhood Hands-On Science) project were also on hand at the event to present ECHOS curriculum, lead hands-on activities, and provide small giveaways to each of the 126 students of the MDCPS Primary Learning Center.
Of course Museum staff also made sure everyone at the event knew about the Museum’s Summer Camp and how to sign up. Need a reminder? You can click here to learn more and to register.
What did you want to be when growing up? Or what about your kids? Are they scientists, explorers, conservationists or inventors? At Miami Science Museum’s summer camp, kids can explore lots of different fields. If they love roller coasters, they can sign up for our Amusement Park Physics course. Or maybe they’re an artist, and want to try their skills in our Enviro-Art class, where they can make masterpieces out of recycled materials. Speaking of the environment, let us introduce them to what it means to be an environmental explorer. They can snorkel, kayak and hike their way to becoming an ambassador of their own environment. Don’t worry, they won’t get shipwrecked…or will they? In Shipwrecked, students learn how to survive being marooned on a deserted island. Do they love the ocean? Then register for Deep Blue Sea, where they will learn about jellyfish, stingrays and other critters under the sea. Or maybe they’re more of a land lover and would rather join Between the Tides, where they can take a field trip to a mangrove forest!
No matter what camp class you choose for your kids, it’s a guarantee that Miami Science Museum’s classes are out of this world…sometimes literally! Future engineers or rocket scientists can construct a rocket model during Rocketry and see how high it’ll go. Or maybe you’ve got a little astronaut in the making. Register for Space Cadet and they can begin their astronaut training in Kindergarten.
From Pre-K to 8th grade, the Miami Science Museum is the place to be this summer! For more information, or to apply, check out the Museum’s Summer Camp website.
“This was the best experience in my life. I can’t wait to do this next year!” This kind of response, from a 9th grade student who participated in her first Upward Bound annual camping trip, is what we live for at the Museum. This year, 32 students went on the camping trip to Markham Park, on the edge of the Everglades. There were team-building activities like making a human spider web, leadership activities like figuring out a group puzzle without talking, and one-on-one mentoring talks. Something they did NOT have (shocker alert) is cell phones or any other electronics! Some students may have found it difficult not to be able to text for three whole days, but the idea of the trip was to accomplish tasks in teams, learn to communicate your thoughts and feelings, and try new things with new people. And throughout all of it there was lots of other camping fun – putting up and sleeping in your own tent, making s’mores, telling ghost stories, looking at constellations, and even going on night excursions to see wildlife. No wonder students can’t wait until next year!
When you think about the purpose of a camera tripod, you probably think of words like stability or support. The Museum’s Tripod program, funded by the MetLife Foundation, lives up to that description as well. Recognizing the reality of family life today, which involves challenges that are unique to each family, it provides an expanded support network that helps parents get more involved in their child’s science education. How does it work? Tripod staff work with mentoring institutions like Big Brothers Big Sisters to provide strategies to help single parents get involved in science activities with their children. Bi-monthly workshops are held at the Musuem to help the “Bigs” prepare to lead their “Littles” in cool science experiences, and then events are held at science organizations throughout the community for Bigs and Littles. Recently, the Tripod staff and participants attended one of these Learning Expedition to the Miami Seaquarium. The idea of the trip was to use the real world outdoor environment of south Florida as a living classroom. For the 50 participants, including Bigs, Littles, and parents, being able to share their “classroom” with dolphins, whales, and stingrays was definitively something special.
 
We recently announced the fantastic news that some of our Upward Bound and Digital Wave students had been finalists for some prestigious scholarships. We are so proud to report that we officially have 2 winners of the Dell Scholars Program, and 1 winner for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program! These are not your everyday scholarships. These are like hitting-the-jackpot type of scholarships.
The Dell scholarship includes: $20,000 towards college expenses, technology equipment, a private scholar networking community, and mentoring support throughout college. The Gates Millennium scholarship provides a full ride for college expenses, opportunities to renew the scholarship if academic progress is maintained, leadership development programs, and even funding for graduate school in the areas of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, and science.
So who are our academic all-stars who earned the jackpot?
Gregory Hyppolite, winner of the Dell Scholars program, plans to attend the University of West Florida. At the Museum, he has participated in the Upward Bound program since ninth grade as well as the Digital Wave program. He is a member of the Museum’s Youth Advisory Board and holds a position as Explainer to help supplement his family’s income. At school, he is a member of the Leadership Team and has earned an internship position with the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County, Alberto M. Carvalho. Greg is a natural leader, ambitious, and as any other student will tell you, is always willing to lend assistance to anyone in need.
David Green, believe it or not, has earned both the Dell AND the Gates scholarships! David has also been a long-time participant in the Museum’s Upward Bound and Digital Wave programs. Graduating as valedictorian this year, he plans to attend the University of Florida. He has been actively involved in his school’s robotics team, tutors other students, has helped develop the Overtown Cookbook, all while holding a steady part-time job. Quick, thoughtful, and encouraging to his peers, he believes that “education is my refuge in adversity.”
Throughout the years, the Miami Science Museum has placed the world of science, technology, and education in the palms of visitors’ hands. This year, American Express has rewarded that commitment with a grant to restore the Museum’s Pan American Globe to its original 1934 condition, when it was originally located at the Pan American Sea Terminal. “The first mission of restoring the globe: collecting original photos of what it looked like and what color palette we were looking at, but the photos were in black and white,” says Lindy Gulick, assistant conservator and project manager with Conservation Solutions, Inc. To fill in these details, she visited the University of Miami Library, which holds one of the greatest collections on Pan American history, as well as the Library of Congress, where she pieced together what a 1934 map would look like.
In stripping the paint to begin the restoration, Gulick and the conservation team discovered three past painting campaigns – the first was the original painting with hand lettering. The second, a combination of yellow, olive and orange, had even more handwriting. The third was more of a topographical map. Now we are going back to display the political map of the original 1934 painting.” Three weeks of hard work required lots of base paint and a detailed text layout. It started with the continent of Africa, and about 10 gallons of paint. On the restored globe, countries and territories will be labeled to reflect their accurate names as of 1934, the ocean will be painted black, as was the custom of the 1930’s, and the same shade of pink that was used on the original globe will be used again.
“The children’s expressions of admiration are what make this project so cool to be a part of,” said Ashley Zangle, assistant painter. “It’s nice to see the excitement on their faces.”
Check out the evolution of the Museum’s Globe:
 In the 1940s...  In the 1960s...  As it appeared up until a couple months ago...  Being Restored in 2012...  Incredible hand-painted details!
Human model brains, sheep brains, and gummy brains were all recently on hand at the Museum for the 3rd annual Brain Fair! In conjunction with the University of Miami, Barry University, St. Thomas University, Florida International University and Nova Southeastern University, the Museum offered a fun, free day of brain related activities. Visitors could find out if they were a “super taster,” dissect a sheep brain and compare it to a plastic model of a human brain, and lots more. Over 2,400 museum visitors enjoyed more than 15 interactive exhibits as well as various talks on sports-related concussions, sleeping disorders in children, and which foods super charge your brain.
“The Brain Fair is about bringing complicated neuroscience concepts to kids so that they can really understand and enjoy learning science. Neuroscience is very complicated, but with the right educators and the right hands-on activities, we can make this difficult subject understandable to even a 5 year old. Thanks to the over 250 volunteers… I think we have made a difference in some of the children’s lives. I had one boy come up to me at the fair to share that he now wants to grow up to be a neuroscientist and solve Alzheimer’s disease. Maybe he will, and maybe that will, one day, become part of the legacy of the Miami Brain Fair.” Coleen M. Atkins, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
The Brain Fair was sponsored by: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Pilot Club of Miami, Society for Neuroscience Miami Chapter, University of Miami Undergraduate Neuroscience Program, Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, Kidz Neuroscience Center, NOVA Southeastern University Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, St. Thomas University School of Science, Technology & Engineering Management, and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
Posted in In the Museum, MiaSci at Large, Partnerships
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Tagged & Engineering Management, Barry University, Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, Florida International University, Kidz Neuroscience Center, Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Nova Southeastern University, Nova Southeastern University Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, Pilot Club of Miami, Society for Neuroscience, St. Thomas University, St. Thomas University School of Science, Technology, University of Miami, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Undergraduate Neuroscience Program
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Here is an opportunity for YOU to help some amazing high school students get started in college!
The senior class of this year’s Upward Bound Math & Science Program is another group of exceptional high school students who represent the first in their families to attend college. It is always with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to these students who have become part of our Museum family. We are sad to see them leave, but we are also incredibly proud of them. This year, all 17 active program participants are graduating and have been accepted to colleges all over the country. We also have 3 Posse Scholar finalists (which provides full tuition and mentoring throughout college), 3 Dell Scholar finalists (which provides $20,000, a Dell computer and printer, and mentoring), one Gates Millennium finalist (which includes a full ride for college and graduate school), and one Coca-Cola Scholars finalist (for a full ride to Emory University). At this point, the students have collectively earned over $30,000 in scholarships to cover their expenses for college.
The transition from high school to college can be intimidating, so we provide College Readiness classes, which teach skills in organization, time-management, prioritizing, studying, and networking – we even connect the students to other Upward Bound alumni who can share experiences and offer advice. The last component to our seniors’ successful transition to college is the College-Starter Basket. Each active participant has worked very hard and is rewarded with a personalized basket containing an assortment of household supplies, school supplies, and technology equipment. This is where you come in! Each basket contains $570 worth of materials, and only through your financial contributions to the Miami Science Museum Youth Programs, will we be able to provide our students with this last component.
Please help support our outstanding youth by contributing to our College-Starter Baskets at: https://www.miamisci.org/www/annualappealform.html. To ensure that the Youth Programs Staff receive your tax-deductible donation, please put “youth programs” in the comments section of the online form. You can also send a check (include “youth programs” in the memo line) to:
Miami Science Museum
Attn: Youth Programs
3280 S Miami Ave
Miami, FL 33129
If you have any questions please contact Amy Rubinson, Upward Bound Math & Science Director, at 305-646-4295 or arubinson@miamisci.org.
You never know what you may find at the Museum. Outside in the Wildlife Center, you will see what looks to be a garden. But if you take a closer look, you will see cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, chives, lettuce, and lots of other things growing in planters arranged not just horizontally, but vertically too. It is a real science experiment/exhibit about hydroponics, which refers to the method of growing plants without soil. All you really need to grow plants is a mineral nutrient solution in water. In nature, plants absorb nutrients that have dissolved in water in the soil, but the soil itself is not necessarily needed. This is an important distinction to make, especially for urban environments or other places too cold or remote to sustain plant growth. Using hydroponics, people in cities would be able to have fresh fruit and vegetables. And in crowded places, sometimes the only direction you can build is up, which is why you see things like an EZ Gro Tower or a VIG (vertically integrated greenhouse) in the exhibit. Hydroponics is also used in research bases in Antarctica, and even NASA has been researching hydroponics as a solution to the need for food on long-term space missions. Not to mention the fact that the turtles and other wildlife at the Museum seem to be enjoying their fresh salads.
 
 
All you need to change the world is time, effort, and caring. In other words, you need volunteers. On Saturday, April 7th, The Reclamation Project, Miami Science Museum’s eco-art based restoration project, completed the first phase of restoration of the headwaters of the Oleta River. Over 70 volunteers planted more than 400 native plants and shrubs along the freshwater section of the river at Highland Oaks County Park in northeast Miami-Dade County. The Oleta River is one of South Florida’s most important rivers, and Highland Oaks is home to the vast wetland system that forms this important waterway. Why is it so important? This waterway not only supports a wide diversity of native habitats, it is also an important part of the ecology and history of South Florida. Used regularly by Tequesta Indians, it serves as the only fresh water tributary to Biscayne Bay that has not been altered by flood control systems. This means it flows naturally and unimpeded from the source to the sea. With the habitats restored, the Highland Oaks region will provide the low salinity environment necessary for commercial and recreational fisheries, and will also provide a critical nesting and foraging area for native birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Looking at the pictures below, you can imagine all of the plants and animals that will really appreciate this effort to restore their home.
Calling all volunteers! Phase II of the restoration at Highland Oaks County Park will take place on Saturday April 21st. The Museum invites you to volunteer your time to this important restoration activity. Please contact Danielle Romero at dromero@miamisci.org for more information.
  
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Museum staff from the ECHOS (Early Childhood Hands-On Science) project were also on hand at the event to present ECHOS curriculum, lead hands-on activities, and provide small giveaways to each of the 126 students of the MDCPS Primary Learning Center.
