MEDIA ADVISORY: 100 Junior High School Students Save Butterflies, Fight Crime During MU’s Saturday Science Program

Story Contact(s):
Christian Basi, BasiC@missouri.edu, 573-882-4430

WHAT: Members of the University of Missouri’s Graduate Student Science Outreach program will host 100 students from Columbia junior high schools for “Saturday Science,” a three-weekend event. For three Saturdays from the end of January through mid-February, graduate student volunteers will lead science activities to promote science education. The MU Office of Science Outreach and the MU Department of Biological Sciences are sponsoring the event.

Volunteers will use the activities to educate students on how science can help solve complex problems. One activity will use a computer simulation to design a plan to save an endangered butterfly species, while another activity will be a crime scene investigation using forensic techniques, including DNA fingerprinting and blood typing, to solve a case.                     

WHO:  100 junior high students from Columbia.

WHERE: Tucker Hall, Rooms 6 and 8

WHEN: 9 – 11 am., Jan. 30, Feb. 6 and Feb. 13.

NOTE: The MU Graduate Student Science Outreach program connects MU graduate students to local public schools to promote science education. Local teachers can choose students across different science fields to come into their classrooms and discuss important research and scientific discoveries.