Science Day

MCC & Adams Elementary School

November 2003

Science Day is a project led by MCC’s faculty member, Ron Dinchak, and sponsored by the Environmental Action Club (EAC). The Fall Science Day exposes fifth-grade students from Adams Elementary School to the excitement of life sciences within their southwestern environment. Their exposure is particularly critical as these students have little access to science in the classroom – a result of funding that forces some science activities to take a backseat to satisfy AIMS scores in such areas as language and mathematic skills.

The event also provides an opportunity for future education majors at MCC to have hands-on activities with students that supplements their lecture classes. Other MCC students that volunteered to help host Science Day came from several of the Life Science classes and the EAC club members—as well as some returning volunteers from previous years who have found the experience rewarding.

The Adams Elementary students are given prepared booklets in conjunction with the hands-on activities and displays. The booklets are then filled out by the students based on what they observe during the event.

Activities and displays include such interactions as:

• Deserts of the southwest
• Climate
• Hands on interactions with MCC’s collection of snakes, spiders, rodents, lizards and tortoises
• Ethnobotany of the southwest

The EAC sponsors the event to help nurture and foster awareness of the environment as these students are the future stewards of the southwest.