About This Article
Seward is a scenic town in south central Alaska. Typical activities in the area include wandering in the Kenai Fjords National Park, observing the wildlife at Resurrection Bay, and visiting the Alaska SeaLife Center. In the summer of 2022, the Seward Community Library & Museum put together a not-so-typical event, taking participants on a trip to discover the wonders of the universe and learn how we know about them.
To engage the audience, the library’s team organized a passport-style event, welcoming “passengers” of all ages. Once passengers boarded, they were free to "land" in one of the four stations in the venue. Each station had a specific science theme, boards with related information, and at least one activity to show the science and make it more tangible to the audience.
Station 1: Coding is Cool
At this station, the young space explorers—and their space guardians—learned that computers on Earth talk to rovers and space observatories by transforming words and pictures into binary code. Kids collected not only their first passport stamp, but also their first souvenir: They made binary bracelets using the directions from NASA’s Universe of Learning activity How to Talk to a Spacecraft. The Seward’s library team also included other activities, such as pixel-art coloring, and they set up a couple of computers to let kids try their hands at basic coding.
Station 2: Constellations
In this station, kids learned about constellations and got a star wheel. But it was the young cosmic explorers’ parents who were most excited about these items and couldn’t wait for it to get dark enough outside to start using them.
Station 3: Exoplanets, Stars, and More
This was a very busy station with plenty of activities to try!
We know that scientists find new planets. But do we ever stop to think how? The library’s staff set up a bare light bulb and a small ball hanging on a string between the lightbulb and the wall to show that one of the ways scientists look for planets is by looking for dips in light from distant stars.
Before the event, the library team made paper mâché globes. During the event, they let the young space explorers use their imagination and paint the globes the way they thought distant exoplanets might look like. The collection of imagined exo-worlds made up a new enormous planetary system displayed in the atrium of the library.
This station also featured NASA’s Universe of Learning activity The Expanded Universe: Playing with Time, which uses balloons to demonstrate how the universe expands.
Station 4: The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Several screens in this station displayed interactives from ViewSpace, another resource from NASA’s Universe of Learning, for the young space explorers to try out. They also learned about the electromagnetic spectrum by looking at different light sources through diffraction glasses, playing with highlighters and black light to learn about UV light, and learning about microwaves and their handiness to heat up food, while enjoying a bowl of popcorn made with guess what? A microwave onsite. Yummy!