What Can Science Café’s Produce?

Dr. Jack Driscoll, & Jennifer Maclachlan

PID Analyzers, LLC

Sandwich, MA

Members of ACS, NESACS & SCHB & ENVR

ACS Fall Meeting

Indianapolis, IN- Sept. 2013

Introduction• What is a science café?

• An event, open to everyone that communicates science to scientists & the general public

• Jennifer & I are members (Public Relations Committee) of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS), the largest of the 187 sections with 7,500 members. The area includes NH, Greater Boston, & SE MA including Cape Cod (this section comprises <4 % of the total)

• In 2011, my daughter Jennifer Maclachlan and I organized our first Science Café on Cape Cod as part of the International Year of Chemistry and to provide some programming for SE MA

• This event was expected to draw our local Northeastern Section Members as well as the general public we expected the 50+ people who had sent an RSVP

• The event was scheduled for January 2011 but was postponed 3 times because of snow. It was finally held in March 2011 and we had about 35 people listen to talks about the Cape Cod Water Supply. The audience included NESACS members from the Cape and Boston as well as several of our Barnstable town councilors and neighbors. It was very successful!

• We were able to get to know reporters from the Barnstable Patriot, the Barnstable Enterprise and the Cape Cod Times, utilized social media to attract and advertise the event

SC #2 Focus on Alternative Energy• End of April 2011- about 55 people at

the event with talks on wind & solar energy

• Were able to spread the word more effectively for this event using the newspapers and social media

• One vendor wanted to talk also about his solar panel installation at Medway High School

• Prof Dan Nocera of MIT/Harvard talks about his artificial leaf

• Talked about future events and possible topics

SC #3 Chemistry of Beer

• Had an excellent article “ Fear, Beer & Science” in the Cape Cod Times

• Chemistry of Beer was very popular with about 60 people in attendance

• The event was at Cape Cod Beer. The Brew Master was very knowledgeable- an electrical engineer by training with 20 years of brewing experience

• Had a number of people from CA call and say they would like to come but 3,000 was too long for a weekend trip

• Had some very good beer samples and a very lively discussion after the talk about brewing and energy conservation

• Events at Brew Houses like this are very popular! Worked with our Young Chemists Committee, NH Science Café & RI Section to develop Science Café’s at Brew Houses

SC #4 Healthy Kids

• We decided to do something different for our 4th science café. We would focus on “healthy kids”. No speaker just 6 tables with experiments. We had the event at the Sandwich Public Library. We had plenty of press in Barnstable and Sandwich and info in the children’s backpacks.

• We had 150 children (K-6) and their parents visit our café

• We had articles in the Cape Cod Times, Barnstable Enterprise, Sandwich Enterprise (2)

Articles

What happened as a result of the 4th Science Café?

• Plymouth Schools- Talk to 75 students (K2-4) for the kickoff of a science club

• SE MA STEM saw article and contacted us; We participated in the STEM EXPO (brought 6 CC companies + Barnstable, Sandwich + DY to the EXPO)

• Invited to participate in the Cambridge Science Festival in 2012

• Invited to participate in Cape & Islands Regional Meeting on STEM

• Involved in starting a STEM activities page on the NESACS web page

• Getting Suffolk University (Alumnus) involved in STEM activities

• Invited to be a STEM Advisor for the Cape Cod Counsel of the Boy Scouts of America + work on a helping to develop a STEM Facility

• Working with Cape cod community College on STEM Programs

Why is STEM important?

• Is STEM important? The results below are a certain indicator of the importance of STEM!!!

•   Massachusetts 8th grade students ranked second in the world for science

• By Michelle Williams, MassLive.com The Republican Email the author | Follow on Twitter on September 03, 2013 at 5:27 PM, updated September 03, 2013 at 5:29 PM

•  As Massachusetts students return to school, some are starting out with a silver star on their science tests.

• Eighth grade public school students in Massachusetts ranked second in the world in science, outperforming all except Singapore students, according to the "Trends in International Mathematics and Sciences Study" by the Institute of Educational Sciences, which surveyed the skills of 600,000 fourth and eighth grade students in 63 nations two years ago.

• Nationwide, students scored an 525 average in science. Commonwealth kids scored 42 points higher. The TIMSS scale average is 500.

• In mathematics, Massachusetts students came in sixth with 561 points, behind Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. The U.S. average was 509, only nine points above the TIMSS scale average.

• The report shows a disparity in Massachusetts test scores by race and socioeconomic status, but gains in the gender gap.

•  

Science Café- Chemistry of Wine CC SC #5• This SC was held at the

Centerville Historic Museum. We had food expert Shirley Corriher, ACS food expert, talk about wine pairing & a local wine expert talk about wines. We had 80 people in 2 seatings and many people who were turned away, Seventy five % were local people and 25% were NESACS members.

What has resulted from the CC SC’s

• Invited by the Cambridge Science Festival to organize and run the Science Café at the Cambridge Science Festival in 2013

• The success of the Science Cafes has resulted in an organized program for SE MA by NESACS

• The first meeting will be on Oct. 3, 2013 at UMA Dartmouth. The speaker will be Madeline Jacobs, the CEO and Executive Director of the American Chemical Society

• The Cape & Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America invited us to run a Science Café at their Wicked Cool Autumn Festival in Yarmouth October 2013. The ENVR Division is an event sponsor

Pathways

• The answer is stimulating interest in science for professionals & the general public

• Promoting networking is always a good thing

• We have described two pathways that have resulted from the activities of our Cape Cod Science Cafes

• Science cafes help scientists & teachers maintain their interest in science and introduce the public to scientific principles

• Learn more about our Cape Cod Science Café at:

• http://capecodsciencecafe.tumblr.com/