Sunday, May 24, 2009

Eagle Rock Junior High, Idaho Falls, Idaho 5/11-5/14

The LOW-S crew ended the school season this year outside of our normal jurisdiction of Utah and traveled to the beautiful state of Idaho. We had this wonderful opportunity through a generous donation from Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Eagle Rock J.H. was very excited to have us visit and during the week we held a Community Night where up to 300 parents and students visited from the surrounding area. During the evening, we had a wonderful consultant, Jaikumar AT, give a great presentation about "Energy/Biodiesel". The LOWS crew just recently bought a used diesel truck to haul all of the exhibits around!!! We are very excited about it!

Also, that night we debuted a new exhibit called "Floating Bubbles". This was a wonderful hit with the kids of all ages! Look for this exhibit at the next Community Night visit!

Thanks Eagle Rock for the wonderful Card and the warm reception!

LOWLife Crew,
Jeanne Huelskamp
Mary Anter

Monday, May 11, 2009

South Cache Center April 27- May 1

What a great place to be during a fantastic spell of weather. Not to mention the work side of things. Mary and I were in Hyrum (just outside Logan) last week for a visit to the South Cache Center 8/9. We worked with 8th and 9th graders for a full week and what a pleasure it was. The whole visit was done using our new Free Explore/Worksheet hybrid schedule. So each class came to see us once with each student getting a sheet of mini-experiments to perform at a few of the exhibits. It's a new system we started this past January as an attempt to serve more students at a given visit. So far (and certainly on this visit) it's been working extremely well.
In addition to having well-behaved, motivated, and very personable students the South Cache Center also had very motivated and thoughtful teachers to work with. What really made this test of the Free Explore worksheets so remarkable (and successful) was that each teacher came in ahead of their visit and checked out each exhibit, went through the worksheet for themselves, and then talked with us so we could work out what would suit their classes the best. In the end, each teacher got a little bit different visit that was custom tailored for their students. That kind of service is what we're striving to provide. At this visit the pieces all came together as we've been planning and hoping they could and the result was stunning.
As if that weren't enough to make for a great visit, we also had an outrageously wonderful week of lovely spring weather. Great food for our dinners, a climbing gym in town, and an upgrade to a room with a jacuzzi (from which I could watch some amazing NBA playoff games) were the icing on the cake for an outstanding trip to our northern neighbor.
Here Here to Hyrum and all those at the South Cache Center. We'd love to come back any time!
Keep living the LOW Life everyone!
See you at the Farmer's market!
Rodney

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Oquirrh Hills Middle School (4/20-4/23)

The Leonardo on Wheels--Science team of Jeanne Huelskamp, Kay Denton, and Mary Anter just visited Oquirrh Hills Middle School in the Jordan District for 4 fully packed days of thrilling science exploration. We overtook their auditorium's kiva space with 12 exhibits. Every day we had volunteers who were eager to help as each of the 27 classes came through to visit us. The students were extremely enthusiastic about our static electric ball as they made circles with their friends to transfer the "shock" around the group. More than 800 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students came to see us. We held a Community Night on April 21st with over 100 people in attendance. That was definitely one of the larger Community Night's thanks to the teacher's and staff who were able to spread the news of our visit. Hopefully, when The Leonardo science center opens in 2011, those students will be able to see us again by taking a field trip into Salt Lake City.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Panguitch High School, Panguitch April 14-16

Big things come in small packages; this visit was no exception. For a short trip there was a lot of adventure packed into it.

Jeanne and I left for Panguitch on Monday afternoon and arrived early enough to take my dog Emma for a hike up the Thunder Mountain trail just outside Bryce Canyon. The miles rolled by under our feet and the daylight withered. We found our way through the dark and back to the truck only to get back to Panguitch and find all but one restaurant closed. Whew! No going hungry tonight.

The next morning we were greeted to a wonderful reception at the High School. Classes were small and we had three 9th grade classes so it was easy to give them more individual attention and have more in-depth discussions with them than usual. And if there's one thing that's always an adventure it's talking to a teenager like they're an adult.

Tuesday night the weather dealt us another adventure. We got hit with a wicked winter storm. High winds, snow, and ice pelted the windows all night and at around 3AM the entire town lost power. No big deal normally except that the motel rooms had electric wall heaters. I did what I could to stay warm; piled the bedspread against the door to stop the cold air rushing into the room, took the blanket off the second bed, and moved Emma onto the bed with me and covered us both with her sleeping bag/bed. Mission accomplished! I had a very cozy night's sleep despite the storm raging outside.
By morning the storm had subsided but the power didn't come back on until about 7:30. Just in time for us to still give the kids at school they're second day of Leo On Wheels activities.

After a successful Community Night with kids exploring the "Fun Fly Stick", a wand like version of the static generator that allows them to levitate foil objects, it was back to the motel for a well heated night's sleep and an oreo cookie malt from Henrie's on Main St. You definitely want to have dessert there after ribs from the Cowboy Smokehouse. WOW, that's how to eat!

The last adventure didn't actually materialize as we'd planned. The weather driving home was fairly mild in contrast to the forecast. So what we feared could be a slow, treacherous trek north turned out to be a simple spin on the freeway. No disappointment at missing that bit of adventure.
In the end what was only a two day school visit turned out to be an exceptionally adventurous and highly enjoyable stay in Panguitch; a small town packed full of big adventures.
Thanks Panguitch for everything.
Keep livin' the LOW Life!
Rodney

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Altamont High School 3/31-4/2

Even though the weather delayed our trip to Altamont by a day, it did not inhibit the wonderful reception that Ross and I received from the community! Community Night had a whopping 150 people turnout. We also had a nice visit during the middle of the week from the Brownie Troup.

Ross and I want to give a big thanks to Lori Oman who really made our visit flow beautifully. She organized the many volunteer's, Community Night and the April Fools joke we played on the second day of the visit!

Typically at the end of each first day class, we charge up a small capacitor with the Van de Graff and give the kids an extra jolt of static electricity. It is a great educational tool to teach the students about the flow of electrons. The next day when the kids came back to our class, we had a large 2.5 liter bottle that had the appearance of our smaller capacitor but had no conducting metal to charge the water. We told the kids we wanted to do the experiment again but only half would participate. When the experiment didn't work, Lori and I yelled, "APRIL FOOLS"! We got every class.

LOWLife Crew
Jeanne Huelskamp
Ross

Friday, March 27, 2009

Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair 3/26-3/27

It must be spring again. March Madness is in full swing, it's been cold and snowy, and SLVSEF is at Rice Eccels Stadium honoring the brightest young scientific minds in the state. LOW-S was there to display our own exhibits and to help judge the student's projects. My coworkers and I would be choosing from the 300+ projects the one that the we feel would be the best to convert into a traveling LOW-S exhibit.
It wasn't an easy choice. The quality of the projects just keeps going up each year; a real testament to the quality Jody (the SLVSEF Manager) demands of every aspect of the fair. Nice work Jody! In the end we picked exhibits that deal with two different topics: earthquakes and the bernoulli principle. You're gonna have to wait until next school year to see these new exhibits but in the meantime I've gotten started on another new one. The basis of it is friction and phone books. Just take a closer look at the photo and you'll see what I'm talking about. Yeah, that's me hanging from the phone books and no, they're not glued together in any way. Their pages are interleaved and the friction between each page is the only thing keeping them together. I'll keep working on the exhibit/entertainment side of it but you'll have to wait to see that one too.
Next week LOW-S is in Altmont. So as usual, if you're in the area stop by and visit us. Until then, keep livin' the LOW Life!
Rodney

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Cedar Middle School, Cedar City 3/16-3/20

It's wonderful to be down south in the spring. And this year was no exception. Cedar City Middle School hosted the Leonardo on Wheels-Science for a visit and it couldn't have been better. The weather was wonderful, the students were a treat to work with, and the staff welcomed us as though we were guests in their home.
The week started with St Patrick's Day and me with nothing green to wear. Not to worry; the kids were exceptionally understanding of my forgetfulness and let me slide on the getting pinched issue.
Once the St Paddy's faux pas was behind us the rest of the week was smooth sailing. I got to do a little mountain biking, Jayceen got to do a little golfing, and March Madness started on Thursday. Put that together with a great "school day" experience each day and a Community Night that was attended by Representative Evan Vickers and you've got the recipe for an A-1 prime visit.
The highlight, however, had to be the last day. One of the girls asked if she could skip shocking herself during the Static Generator station. I made a deal with her; she could skip it if she'd let me jump over her on my mountain bike. She called my bluff. Not to worry though, after constructing a makeshift ramp in the middle of the gym and "practicing" a few times I eventually won the game. She backed out of the deal and did the shock. I am nothing if not in touch with the mind of the middle schooler.
Next week is the Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair in Salt Lake City. We'll be set up there as well as judging projects to find the next potential great LOW-S exhibit.
Keep your fingers crossed and keep living the LOW Life!
Rodney