Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Carter Penegor, 8, of Hurley, learns to make large sized bubbles on Wednesday as part of "Bubble-ology," one of the weekly summer kids learning programs through the Hurley Public Library and the North Lakeland Discovery Center.
By TOM LAVENTURE
Hurley - Bubbles are fun to make, but a group of kids attending a weekly Hurley Public Library summer program found that they enjoyed learning about molecules and the states of matter just as much on Wednesday at Riccelli Park.
Licia Johnson, the education director and naturalist at the North Lakeland Discovery Center, came from Manitowish Waters to show kids that they can become scientists, or bubble-ologists in this case, she said.
"They learned that the word 'ology' means 'the study of' and that whatever comes in front of that word is the study of that thing," Johnson said.
There is a science to bubbles, and in addition to learning a great bubble-making recipe, the kids learned the three states of matter - solid, liquid and gas - and that bubbles are a liquid that is trapping a gas inside, she said.
Johnson showed the kids that she was able to predict with some certainty what would happen if she touched a bubble with a dry, and then a wet finger. She did this to help kids learn the process of developing a hypothesis and then proving or disproving it by setting up an experiment.
"And so, we became scientists with our goggles and pipettes and other scientific equipment," Johnson said. "They followed a recipe to make their bubble juice. But it was just really about learning to be scientists, making hypotheses, asking questions and observing, and using all the different science or ways that people learn about what's going on around them."
The weekly summer program events teach youth how to better understand the environment around them in a fun way, Johnson said. The Discovery Center mission is to connect people to the natural world and the partnership with the Hurley Public Library is a way for the Discovery Center to bring programming to the communities.
Rachel Ofstad, the assistant librarian at the Hurley Public Library, said she and librarian MaryAnn Nicholls enjoy it when kids come to visit. The summer program is another way to get the kids out of the house, involved with others, and accustomed to using the library.
"It gets the kids out and it's a great program," Ofstad said. "The kids always seem to enjoy it. This is another way that we get to interact with them and let them know that we're up the street and they can always come and check out books or just to come see me and MaryAnn."
The remaining Wednesday program events will continue with "Critters of the Night" on July 28. For information on the program, contact the Hurley Public Library at 715-561-5707.
