Inspirational sites stimulate learning

By LINDA SIEVERS
Special sections editor

Deep in the forest off 68th Avenue sits one Anchorage’s best-kept secrets. Here, salmon spawn, butterflies cavort and youngsters discover the wonder of a classroom surrounded by trees and sky. It’s the Campbell Creek Science Center.

Students of all ages from every part of Anchorage use this facility and a host of similar sites to enhance outdoor and indoor learning.

Run by the Bureau of Land Management and a cadre of volunteers and partners, Campbell Creek Science Center has a minds-on, hands-on focus. Its Elementary Science Program mirrors the concepts taught in the Anchorage School District’s Earth Systems Framework. Each grade level covers specific skills or concepts like how to observe and interpret life cycles, ways to collect and record data, and how to process information by comparing, classifying and drawing conclusions.

Programs are open to all students from private, public and home schools, Boy and Girl Scout troops, and community organizations anywhere in the state.

Cost for programs is $5 per student for half-day sessions or $10 for full-day sessions. Teachers and chaperones are admitted free.

Center staff members can customize a full-day program. Possible subjects include Arctic survival, orienteering, fossils, animal tracking and discovery hikes. For more information or to register for a program, call 267-1247.

Beyond Campbell Creek, there are at least five facilities that offer inspiration and a rich learning environment. Consider these programs as well:

CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER OF ALASKA

The first astronaut wannabes blasted off from this learning launchpad in April. The 11,000-square-foot center, 9711 Kenai Spur Highway in Kenai, is the 39th in a worldwide network created in the wake of the 1986 space shuttle explosion. Its goals include inspiring young people to stay in school and study science, math and technology.

Students come to the facility to partcipate in a simulated space mission, acting as astronauts aboard a space station or mission controllers back on Earth supporting the crew. In order to fulfill mission goals, students must take on a role in one of eight teams and perform the tasks required. On their way, they encounter many scenarios that make their mission unique and oftentimes stressful.

Every team has a different responsibility during a mission. For instance, the navigation crew maneuvers through star fields and is responsible for selecting the best coordinates for launching of a probe. The data and communications officers are the links between the space station and mission control.

Regardless of what team the young astronauts are a part of, everyone is responsible for doing their tasks to the best of their ability to make the mission successful.

A mission is not simply a half-day event but rather a culminating experience. On average, students spend four to six weeks in their classrooms preparing for a mission before going to the Challenger Learning Center. Training is required of all teachers who want to bring students into the facility.

Missions run best with 24 to 28 students but can fly with as few as 15 and as many as 36. Cost for next school year is $475, which includes teacher training, curricular materials and a two-hour mission.

Log on to Web site www.akchallenger.org for more information and to view a calendar of events. (1-907-283-2000)

ALASKA SEALIFE CENTER

Located in Seward, the center’s Discovery Education Department offers several onsite programs designed to meet the needs of educators and students. Developed in accordance with Alaska’s Math/Science Framework and the National Research Council’s National Science Education Standards, sessions are designed to connect classroom activities with below-the-surface adventures. Inquiry-based journeys use the galleries, discovery labs and behind-the-scenes areas.

Here’s a look at a few possibilities:

New this fall are the Careers Class and ‘‘Cephalopods: The Jet Set.’’ The former has students looking at the jobs people do to keep the Alaska SeaLife Center functioning. The second is a lab that includes a squid dissection and lecture focusing on the tentacled members in the phylum Mollusca. After students master squid anatomy, they learn how to make fried calamari.

The ‘‘See Life’’ program draws on students’ creative talents and is appropriate for art, life and marine science or biology classes. Exercises help build observation skills, visual image banks and bio-illustrative techniques.

‘‘Real Time Research’’ is designed to associate students with some of the facility’s research and husbandry techniques. Students work in teams to investigate the structure and function of feathers, observe and record data from a live video feed of Steller sea lions on Chiswell Island, and prepare their own cellular slides.

‘‘Pinniped Picnic’’ looks at Steller sea lions and why their numbers have decreased in the northern Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands. Causes of the decline are unknown but not unexplored. The center’s Stellers, named Woody, Kiska and Sugarloaf, provide the hands-on part of this program as they have participated in metabolism, thermoregulation (temperature and heat loss) and nutrition studies. Students also watch the animals in their habitat and learn how seals and sea lions are trained to work with researchers.

‘‘Birdbrains’’ explores how perfectly adapted to life in the water seabirds are. ‘‘Under Pressure’’ will deepen students’ understanding of water properties such as pressure and density. ‘‘Measuring Up’’ explores connections to math as students identify characteristics of sea stars, adaptations of fish and experience the insulating abilities of blubber.

For details, contact a center education program specialist at 1-800-224-2525. (www.alaskasealife.org)

THE IMAGINARIUM

Daily science demonstrations explore marine life, ‘‘Radical Reptiles,’’ the physics of bubbles, electricity and more at this downtown science center. Select from workshops on 30 topics designed for school and community groups of 15 to 30 students. A group visit includes a workshop on an earth, life or physical sciences topic plus time to explore Imaginarium exhibits.

Discovery Nights offer three hours of science and fun served with a pizza dinner for just $12 per student (adult chaperones are free).

For the youngest scientists, the ‘‘I Wonder’’ preschool hour offers age-appropriate science activities on Mondays from 11 a.m. to noon or 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. beginning Sept. 11.

For home-school students, monthly science workshops are available along with a new program called Homeschool Intensives, which offers longer, in-depth classes on a variety of subjects. The schedule will be available Sept. 1.

The Imaginarium’s statewide outreach program allows many of its offerings to be presented outside Anchorage.

Here’s a list of upcoming special events at the Imaginarium. Activities are free with admission:

September-November: ‘‘Pet a Python,’’ 11 a.m. Saturdays.

Sept. 19: Homeschool Open House, 4-6 p.m. Live science demonstrations, exhibits, door prizes and information about home-school programs.

Sept. 23: ‘‘Gross-Out Saturday,’’ 12-4 p.m. Learn the science of some things that kids might call ‘‘gross.’’

Oct. 21: ‘‘Pumpkin Explorations,’’ 12-4 p.m. Find out how pumpkins grow, whether they float and what the goop inside them is, then decorate a small pumpkin for Halloween.

Nov. 24: ‘‘Edible Experiments,’’ 12-4 p.m. Those still hungry after Thanksgiving dinner can have fun with food chemistry.

Dec. 16-31: Winter-break camps and activities

Feb. 1- June 11: Experiment Gallery exhibit. What is electricity? Where does light come from? Why does the weather change? How does sound travel? Explore these questions and more in a traveling exhibit from the Science Museum of Minnesota.

March 1-April 30: ‘‘Eggstrava-ganza’’ gives kids a visit with live chicks and teaches them about egg-laying animals. A springtime favorite.

The Imaginarium Web site at www.imaginarium.org has up-to-date information on activities and events. (Mia Jackson, 276-3179)

ALASKA NATIVE HERITAGE CENTER

Barely a year old, this East Anchorage facility caters to all age groups when it comes to educational opportunities.

Master artist workshops for high school students and adults cover everything from skin sewing to storytelling, mask making to button blanket construction, weaving to spear making.

High school students can take classes for free. Adults must sign up in advance and pre-pay for sessions that are worth college credit. High school students should call 330-8027 to register; adults, 330-8020.

Teacher’s Day on Sept. 9 offers a preview of the coming year’s programs. Activities available include art, dance, storytelling, Native games and transportation, and ‘‘Seasons of Alaska Natives.’’

The center’s school program, held Tuesdays through Thursdays from October through April, can accommodate 60 students at a time. Sessions lasting 2-1/2 hours include a 30-minute film, a tour of outside village sites plus two other activities.

Cost is $4 per student and can be set up through the Anchorage School District Community Resource Office.

Other upcoming events include the Alaska Federal of Natives Youth Art Workshop for high school students on Oct. 15 and the Youth Group Weekend Oct. 21-22. A Native film series starts Sept. 17 with ‘‘Salmonberries’’ and an introduction by Jane Lind.

Family-oriented events include the Yup’ik Mask Festival (Oct. 28-29), Christmas Ornament Workshop (Dec. 9-10), Yup’ik Dance Workshop (Jan. 20-21), Inupiaq Dance Workshops (Feb. 24-25), Drumming Festival (March 10), Native Youth Olympics with demonstrations and workshops (March 24-25) and Ukrainian egg decorating (April 8). (Patricia Partnow, 330-8056)

ANCHORAGE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND ART

This year’s Children’s Gallery exhibit is ‘‘Squish! The Art of Printmaking.’’ Aimed at youngsters in kindergarten through grade six, the exhibit answers questions like ‘‘What is a print and how do you make one?’’ The display explores seven printmaking methods with the help of seven nationally recognized artists. Students are exposed to technological changes in the way prints can be created, including lasers and scanners. Then they are given the chance to print their own masterpiece with rubber stamps.

The downtown museum, 121 W. Seventh Ave., also offers a series of art classes for all age groups. Registration can be done by phone or e-mail on a first-

come, first-served basis from Aug. 21 to Sept. 6. Register by phone 24 hours a day at 343-6185 or by e-mail at edlefsenDG@ci.anchorage.ak.us. Here is a list of classes:

FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Scientific Illustration: 4-6 p.m. Tuesdays, Sept. 12-

Nov. 14. Grades 4-6. Fee: $130 members/$150 nonmembers.

The Art of Scientific Curiosities: 4-6 p.m. Wednesdays, Sept. 8-Nov. 10. Grades 1-3. Fee: $130 members/$150 nonmembers.

Printmaking: 4-6 p.m. Thursdays, Sept. 9-Nov. 11. Grades 5-8. Fee: $130 members/$150 nonmembers.

Family Printmaking: 10 a.m.-noon Saturdays, Sept. 16-Nov. 18. All ages. Fee: $180 per family.

Family Studio: 1-3 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 16-Nov. 18. All ages. Fee: $180 per family.

FOR ADULTS

Beginning Watercolor Painting: 6:30-9 p.m. Tuesdays, Sept. 12-Nov. 14. Fee: $130 members/$150 nonmembers.

Painting: 6:30-9 p.m. Thursdays, Sept. 14-Nov. 16. Fee: $130 members/$150 nonmembers.

Watercolor Painting: 3:30-6 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 11-Nov. 13 Fee: $130 members/$150 nonmembers.

©2000 Anchorage Daily News