This summer, the children of Project Exploration are hard at work! Our PE Summer Camp fills their days will enriching experiments, activities, and STEM lessons. Though this photo essay, we join the children in the Sisters for Science and Brothers for Science (6th-8th grade) programs for one day as they explore new scientific horizons at our West Side STEM Learning Center.
This hot Tuesday afternoon, we dropped in on our Sisters for Science as they were learning about urban agriculture and “Heat Islands.” As West Side Chicagoans, the sisters have experienced heat islands as significantly warmer neighborhoods surrounded by cooler neighborhoods — carved out by historical and infrastructural inequities. In fact, according to this map from a Chicago Tribune investigation, the average summer surface temperature (from 2013-2022) on the block containing the STEM Learning Center at Bethel New Life was 104.82°F. This is on the hotter side for Chicago, while cooler temperatures range from 88°F-103°F especially by the lake or in parks. Safe to say that this day, the sisters would gain the power of knowledge to combat this geological inequity affecting some of their neighborhoods.
Our incredible facilitator, Jordan, was teaching the Sisters for Science about “Heat Islands” in the classroom, before taking them outside to conduct experiments and activities to learn first hand about their causes and effects.
Under the scorching sun, Jordan and the kids wrote in their journals and documented their findings and hypotheses about measuring the temperatures of different spaces outside.
In one activity, the learners were challenged to find the coolest spot in the playground. While this structure appears empty, it hides three sisters who have found the best, secret, “Cool Islands” on that hot, sunny day.
Returning indoors, the Sisters for Science embarked on their Beauty of Chemistry lesson: making DIY Bath Bombs. They learned how to make these magically fizzy and effervescent creations from everyday household ingredients: baking soda, corn starch, epsom salt and dyes. An important lesson in both chemistry and self care. Here we interrupted Zion as she gestured to a bath bomb with cupped hands, as if to reference its sculpted shape.
Meanwhile, in a different classroom, down the hallway, our Brothers for Science were learning about Sports Science. Throwing around a football—an elongated sphere—they learned about physics, sound, and parabolas.
Later that day, the Brothers for Science engaged themselves in architectural layouts. The young architects learned hands-on about modeling and geometry and physics as they built paper, multi-story structures of their choice—before presenting on their ideas. Some pairs built elaborate hotels for esteemed guests.
The structure, seen below, was meant to model a dog-house, for our furry best friends.
After an engaging morning of hands-on geology, physics, and chemistry, our Sisters for Science and Brothers for Science joined each other for the rest of the day’s enrichment activities—full of music, dance, and art. To learn about how to join the PE Summer Campers next year or for our after-school program in the fall, subscribe to our newsletter and keep an eye out for our form when it comes time to register!