Dec. 12, 2011 Tucson, Ariz. – The Planetary Science Institute and Children’s Museum Tucson are partnering to offer local youngsters a fun and educational look at our solar system – and beyond.

A Winter Solstice event from 1-4 p.m. Dec. 17 will offer lots of hands-on activities for kids age 2 to 10, said Coppelia Tarantal, the museum’s early childhood education specialist.

The museum is located at 200 S. Sixth Ave. Admission is $2 for children and adults, she said.

PSI’s Education Specialist Sanlyn Buxner and Senior Scientist Steve Kortenkamp will be on hand to help youngsters explore the Sun-Earth system. They will be facilitating art and science activities related to the sun and Earth in celebration of the solstice.

In addition to PSI, participating organizations include Puppets Amongus, Planet Djembe and Cub Club Samba, said Tarantal, also known as Miss CoCo at the museum.

PSI’s participation in the event – the first of many planned where the Institute will partner with Children’s Museum Tucson – is funded by a three-year, $150,000 grant from NASA’s Space Science Directorate Supplemental Education Awards for ROSES Investigators.

The “Out of this world: bringing space rocks that hit the Earth to children and families” program will see PSI create meteorite kits for the museum and developing and implementing museum interpretative programming and classroom outreach.

PSI will also participate in and support family learning events at the museum. PSI and the museum are co-developing a new Out of This World summer camp that will be offered in the summer of 2012. Scholarships will be provided for campers provided by the grant.

“We are thrilled to be working with Children’s Museum Tucson on this new project,” said Buxner. “This will be the first of many exciting events to bring space science to children of all ages in the Tucson community.”

THE PLANETARY SCIENCE INSTITUTE:

The Planetary Science Institute is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to solar system exploration. It is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, where it was founded in 1972.

PSI scientists are involved in numerous NASA and international missions, the study of Mars and other planets, the Moon, asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, impact physics, the origin of the solar system, extra-solar planet formation, dynamics, the rise of life, and other areas of research. They conduct fieldwork in North America, Australia and Africa. They also are actively involved in science education and public outreach through school programs, children’s books, popular science books and art.

PSI scientists are based in 15 states, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia, Australia and Canada.

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 9:57 am and is filed under Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.