Barking Points: Monthly Mobius Science

STEM fields hold some of the world’s most important research positions and feature a wide variety of job opportunities for tomorrow’s future to discover. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) continue to play an irreplaceable role in today’s growing society.

It was with the future of science in mind that the Mobius Science Center of Spokane created a grant to fund the exploration of the scientific universe for local eighth grade students. The grant now includes monthly hands-on visits from Mobius Science Center to LRMS eighth grade classrooms in order to answer students’ questions from the natural world while deepening their hunger to learn more.

The first interaction of Mobius Science Center with LRMS began last June, when Mobius brought their portable planetariums for students to marvel over, and it continued a few weeks back on Mobius Science Night to which a hefty number of students, parents and community members attended.

Nick Weishaar, who helped to coordinate LRMS’s inclusion in Mobius’ quest for science exploration, said, “Since we reached out to them [with the planetarium last June], they reached back and we got included in the grant.”

The next step in the funding is even better. A representative from Mobius Science Center will be returning to LRMS on the third Wednesday of each month. Since there are only three more sessions scheduled for this school year, the monthly Mobius classroom experiments will also be a reoccurring part of next year’s academic calendar.

March’s Mobius classroom visit had eager eighth grade students dissecting cow eyes and analyzing the anatomy of vision. Of course, the hands-on aspect got an upbeat and positive reaction from the students.

Weishaar explained, “Anytime you do something hands-on, it’s exciting because they [the students] get excited. It’s not the same old teacher doing the same old thing.”

The next scheduled Mobius appearance in the classroom will be on April 16. To tie in with the tectonic plate lessons about to be taught in the earth science class, Weishaar said, “She talked about doing an earthquake unit next.”

After just the first experiment, it’s clear the outreach program has done its job: get students excited about STEM. Rachel Schell, eighth grade student, said, “I am very excited for the Mobius Science Center people to be coming back because it shows us new things we wouldn’t have been able to participate in.” Claire Roettger continues her thought: “I enjoyed the Mobius Science Center [visit] because I learned new things about cow eyeballs that I didn’t think mattered. I want to dissect it again!”

Mobius Science Center continues to captivate the minds of eighth grade Lind-Ritzville Middle School students, and Weishaar is hopeful to involve the community once more. “Sometime in June,” he said, “we’re trying to plan a family night to bring the planetarium back.”