Courtesy photos.
CAMARILLO — Crowd-pleasers like exploding pumpkins, screaming Gummi bears, banana pianos and colored fire will have an encore performance at the 2016 Science Carnival, but some new activities will make their debut, too.
The CSU Channel Islands (CI) 2016 Science Carnival will be Saturday, Nov. 5 from 5-8 p.m. at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School at 2900 Thurgood Marshall Drive in Oxnard.
Launched in 2009 by CI Professor of Chemistry Phil Hampton, Ph.D., the Science Carnival mushroomed from a handful of volunteers and 250 visitors to about 2,200 visitors in 2015 with an expected 2,400 visitors in 2016.
The idea behind the 80 different events at the Science Carnival is simple, Hampton said.
“It’s to engage the kids in fun,” he said. “To show them that science is fun and science is a verb. You do science.”
With a “spooky science” theme, activities and demonstrations are designed to illustrate all of the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields using all five senses.
The hands-on carnival invites kids from pre-kindergarten age to 8th grade to watch “how a chemist carves a pumpkin,” Hampton said, referring to pumpkins filled with acetylene gas that explode into grinning Jack-O-Lanterns.
The banana piano shows how bananas can conduct electricity and act as piano keys when hooked up to a computer. Elephant toothpaste is an audience favorite showing how the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide creates an “exothermic reaction,” causing foam to expand rapidly and shoot out of a tube, just like toothpaste.
The “screaming Gummi bear” demonstration draws shrieks of laughter as the hapless candies “scream” as they are dropped into molten potassium chlorate.
Kids will watch computer science in action as engineering students from Ventura College use a mechanical arm to play Jenga. And budding biologists can build a circulatory system using blue and red clay, or build an artificial lung in addition to dissecting sheep eyeballs.
All three community colleges and volunteers from California Lutheran University are involved in the event, along with volunteers from professional organizations like the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and local companies that employ scientists.
Another addition to this year’s event is the “VIP Scientist” program.
“Each middle school and elementary school in Oxnard School District will select three VIP ‘scientists,’” Hampton said. “They will get to wear a lab coat and a special badge. There will be 60 VIPs chosen.”
The VIP Scientists will enjoy special privileges such as riding along with the volunteers as they conduct demonstrations.
Parents and home-schoolers are also welcome, Hampton said, noting that parents usually have as much fun as their kids.
The carnival is made possible by Project ACCESO, a U.S. Department of Education grant for Hispanic-Serving Institutions designed to enhance CI’s ability to support CI students in STEM majors, and to build a pipeline for PreK-12 students and community college students who may be interested in STEM majors.
Hampton said the partnerships forged through years of organizing the Science Carnival are what led this county to being named a STEM ecosystem in 2015 by the STEM Funders Network, a nationwide initiative devoted to creating STEM learning opportunities for students from pre-school to college.
VC STEM is a network of companies, universities, PK-12 education, government agencies, and community organizations devoted to enriching and creating more access to STEM learning across the county.
For more information visit: http://www.csuci.edu/sciencecarnival/.
About California State University Channel Islands: CSU Channel Islands (CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more about CI by visiting CI’s Social Media.?