Watching The Lights Go On Hands-On Lessons Help Annual Camp Make Science Real For Hundreds Of Kids

Peter Thomas took a break from the swimming pool Tuesday to dock the space station, stare at the stars and discover what’s groovy about gravity.

“I think the biggest thing I learned is that there could be a possibility of life in space,” the 8-year-old said while making an alien out of spongy foam.

“And it might look something like this,” he said, proudly displaying a creature with a webbed foot for a head.

Peter was one of 700 children, ages 5 to 14, who participated in the second annual Seafirst Jammin’ Science Fest at Spokane’s West Central Community Center.

Seafirst Bank started free summer camps in 1990 as a way to help kids stay off drugs and interested in school. Back then, the camps were mostly about basketball, soccer, track and art.

Then research was published showing that American children lag behind their Asian and European peers in science.

So Seafirst added science to its list of free programs offered in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

“We believe that science education will be important for all future employees, not just those who want to be chemists, biologists or doctors,” Seafirst spokeswoman Mary Kelley said. “The skills you learn in science involve critical thinking and problem-solving, and those are skills everybody should have.”

With that in mind, children wandered Tuesday through a variety of hands-on demonstrations, like “Groovy Gravity.”

Semir Fazlic, 11, weighed himself on Jupiter (200 pounds), Saturn (80 pounds), Mars (32 pounds) and Earth (82 pounds).

Here’s how he explained the concept of gravity: “I get smaller on some planets and I have more kilos on others because the Earth pulls you down just so much. Other planets pull you down more, or less, or the same as Earth.”

Eric Storhaug, 8, discovered that docking a space station like Mir is harder than it looks.

The key is depth perception. “It tricks your eyes,” he said. “You pull it back and forth, but you never really line it up right.”

Stephanie Hiner, 11, learned that ancient civilizations were fascinated with the solar system.

“Orion and Scorpion were the worst enemies,” she said. “Because they were never in the sky together. That’s what the Greeks said.”

Parents seemed to have as much fun as their kids. Donna Kadron brought her five children, ages 2 to 8, to the camp.

“At their ages, I want them to be exposed to as many things as they can,” she said.

“Eventually they will find and latch onto the things they love. But first they have to find out what’s important to them and to the world around them.”

T.J. Newton, 9, watched intently as two instructors, Karrie and Erin, demonstrated the difference between gravity on Earth and on the moon. They had a tug-of-war with a rope, then tossed two balls in the air - one weighing 3 pounds, the other a half-pound. For added measure, they showed slides of floating astronauts.

When it was over, T.J. tried to explain the lesson.

“The moon is bigger than the Earth so it pulls harder,” he said. “No, wait. The Earth is bigger, right?

“All I know is astronauts are taller on the moon, and they can jump higher. Because when they are here on Earth they are heavier, so they are shorter.”

“Good job, T.J.,” one of the instructors called out.