Faculty and staff are welcome at Tuesday's Faculty Colloquium, of course.
But save the seats down front for the kids.
Chemistry's Charlie Scaife, whose “science roadshows” last year made him
something of a celebrity with the elementary school set, is doing his “hands-on
science” for Union faculty and staff and their elementary-age children. The talk is
Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 4:30 p.m. in the Reamer Campus Center auditorium.
“I try to use surprise to the hilt,” Scaife told a Wall Street Journal reporter
who covered his trek. “That's what hooks kids on science.”
For years, Scaife said, he had been seeing signs that youngsters weren't being exposed
to the wonders of science. So he used his sabbatical to address the problem, traveling to
dozens of elementary schools throughout the Northeast to promote science with hundreds of
students and their parents.
At Tuesday's colloquium, Scaife will be doing some of the experiments that proved to be
big hits during his tour. Among them, removing iron bits from fortified cereal using a
magnet, skewering balloons without popping them, and boiling water in a paper cup. Scaife
invites youngsters to participate in the experiments and then explore the science behind
them.