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Love the involvement of teachers and kids in the process especially because
it was a middle school student that actually had the original idea for rat
basketball. When we were doing the Science of Sports at COSI I read a brief
article in Ranger Rick (I think) about a rat basketball science project at a
school in Indianapolis. I called the school to see if they could have the
parents of the girl who did the project call me so I could get more info.
When I talked to the girl she said she got the idea for training rats from
her uncle who was teaching in Chicago. We then brought the student and her
uncle to Columbus to train us. The first go around was very time consuming
and did take me about 2 to 3 months. But as time went the rats also trained
us, and we got better. At one point I did it in about a month. The people
at COSI have developed even better strategies, but I am not certain how long
it is taking now.
When at Pacific Science Center, I taught rats to recycle paper, plastic and
metal. That was much more difficult.
The big issue is that this whole effort was inspired by a middle school
student and was one of the most popular parts of the Science of Sports
exhibit. Another major innovation that came out of the exhibit planning
process was "Happy and Sad" balls.
Bill Schmitt
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Becky Matthews
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 8:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Rats! (was sports science exhibits)
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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Our rat-training expert here (thanks, Larry) says typically it took
about 4-6 weeks to train the rats and yes, their sports career (and
lifetime) is only a few years long. The training here has been done in
some years with the assistance of summer youth volunteers. In recent
years, we have been lucky enough to have a local high school teacher
train the rats with his students. After the school year, the rats come
to the science center, returning "back to school" in the fall long
enough for the teacher to inspire his new class of students. It does
take dedicated staff time for the training, training often and
consistently.
Becky Fox Matthews
Senior Educator/Special Projects Manager
Adventure Science Center
800 Ft. Negley Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37203
voice: 615-401-5073
Our Mission
Adventure Science Center ignites curiosity and inspires the lifelong
discovery of science.
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