By The Hall of Science opened its doors to the community for the annual “Sharks at the Beach and Science in the Hall” event where interactive learning spaces, an augmented reality sandbox and live sharks made a splash with local families.
Opening the university’s resources to the public, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics hosted an open house where over 2,000 people had the chance to learn about the sciences.
The event followed Discovery Channel TV programming known as “Shark Week,” and drew the attention of Chino Hills mother of two, Sarai Bidrio.
“I had my kids sitting down watching a bunch of shows and my son was like, ‘I want to be a shark scientist.’ So I was like okay, let me see what’s going on,” Bidrio said. “A week later here we are and he’s totally into it. I wish we knew about this years before.”
Event goers check in with the Shark Shack which features the fossils of shark jaws and other marine skeletons. Photo credit: Linsey Towles
Several stations and activities were set up throughout the floors of the Hall of Science. One example is the Science Learning Center which encourages a hands-on approach to exploring science in the form of experiment stations.
“We’ve been trying to create a safe space where people aren’t intimidated by science,” said Chair of Science Education Department Jim Kisiel. According to Kisiel, the stations help give teachers feedback on how people engage with science.
“We’ve had people at the floating table for half an hour trying to get it to work,” Kisiel said. The experiment involved attempting to create a vessel that replicated the buoyancy objects have in the water. “As teachers, sometimes you don’t get this kind of feedback.”
Katherine Huotari, program coordinator of the Science Learning Center, said the creation of the interactive stations involved plenty of planning from Cal State Long Beach students.
“We’re interested in how people learn science. We have a National Science Foundation grant to look at how people engage in maker spaces,” Huotari said.
Maker spaces are set up throughout the Hall of Science where kids can work with provided material to create their own experiments. Photo credit: Linsey Towles
Maker spaces are collaborative spaces in places like schools, libraries and public or private facilities where people can invent, learn and share resources.
“A big part of preparing for today has been collaborating with students who go here. They’re the ones getting the opportunity to develop these activities. They’re conducting these mini research projects to see how these activities are being used,” Huotari said.
Activities like the augmented reality sandbox, searching for hidden fossils and touching the special display of animal specimens drew the curiosity of many, especially young children.
“It’s engaging for the younger kids. My daughter is only four and she’s interested in all these exhibits. She likes going to the aquarium and seeing the tanks,” Allison Jeffery, Long Beach resident, said.
Volunteers help engage kids with interactive stations, such as a fossil-finding activity where kids use archeological tools to reveal hidden fossils. Photo credit: Linsey Towles
Gaby Garcia, a 2023 CSULB graduate and incoming Masters student in Science Education, said the children were engaged at the event.
“I still find it amazing about kids and how they’re not afraid to touch things,” Garcia said. “We have an exhibit over here with taxidermy and I find it amazing how kids have no fears and just touch it. It’s really cool to see.”
The open house marked the beginning of a new year for the department and provides insights into what the university can expect to see from students and faculty. According to Curtis Bennet, the Richard D. Green Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, research is at the forefront.
“Every year we have about roughly 400 students who do research in labs here. That’s a great rate for the size of faculty. Over the last two years our faculty has won five career grants and that’s our young faculty,” Bennet said. “We get students into our research labs at just an amazing rate and it’s in the service of our students.”
