Friday, December 28, 2012

Family Science Workshops


The annual family science program is presented by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.  This year's theme is Just Like Me?: Exploring Culture, Biology and Diversity.
 

The workshops are intended for children ages 6 - 11 with an adult (kindergarteners are welcome) and will be held in the library.  

Registration is required; please register here.  
We hope you will be able to attend all three workshops, but if your schedule prevents you from attending all three, you are welcome to attend one or two.

All of us seem so different from the outside, but is that really true? In a series of 3 hands-on family workshops we will explore how biology, anthropology, and physics all play a part in race and culture.

All of us seem so different from the outside, but is that really true? In a series of 3 hands-on family workshops we will explore how biology, anthropology, and physics all play a part in race and culture. 

Saturday, January 26 at 1:00 P.M. and 2:30 P.M. (choose one session)  

Workshop 1: What makes us different? What makes us the same? There is no biological marker for race, so why do we look so different on the outside? Families will learn about the biological reasons behind skin color, hair texture and explore other inherited genetic traits like the ability to taste certain compounds. Families will extract DNA from bananas, create models of hair follicles, and examine genetic traits.

Saturday, February 23 at 1:00 P.M. or 2:30 P.M. (choose one session)
[The 1:00 session is full; space is still available in the 2:30 session.]
Workshop 2: Everybody cooks.
Every country has a cuisine but why do the same ingredients or types of food pop up all over the place? Families will learn how geology relates to food, what cultural transmission is and they will also get to make their very own bread starter.

Saturday, March 16 at 1:00 P.M.
Workshop 3: Can you feel the beat?
They say music is the universal language, but why? Families will learn what makes some instruments more common than others and why some sounds creep us out or get us excited. We will explore how cultural transmission influences music and families will get to make their own instruments.