Next Tuesday is National Science Education Day, but Agate Fossil Beds National Monument and Oglala Lakota College are joining forces to celebrate it this Saturday instead at the Monument.
OLC is offering its Little Shop of Physics program from noon-to-2:00 in the Agate visitor center. Like admission to the park, Little Shop of Physics is free.
Oglala Lakota College science professors Merle Brave and Jesse Pina will have some 30 hands-on experiments that students from kindergarten through high school can explore on their own or with their parents.
Colorado State University master instructor Brian Jones created Little Shop of Physics and directs the program. He helped OLC set up its own program and has partnered with it for more than a decade.
Jones says the program has one big, but simple, message “science is accessible,” adding that “ the stuff we do is exciting, fun, and engaging” for kids.
National Science Education Day began 130 years ago to address the lack of standardized science education at the time, and has since helped lead to big changes in science curriculum and instruction.
Bringing Little Shop of Physics to Agate Fossil Beds is just the latest event by the National Park Service to remind people that “National Parks are amazing outdoor laboratories to learn about the parks themselves and the world around us.”