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News from the Chair
We are often inspired by the children we meet at our Museum without Walls events due to their natural enthusiasm and curiosity about the wonders of science. Yet we are equally inspired by the enthusiasm of the many adults we meet who embrace the vision of this project and jump in to help. The passion for this project is quite contagious and we want YOU to help pass it on. Introduce the Children's Science Center to others by bringing a friend to a virtual tour, invite another family to a Museum without Walls event, or simply suggest that they subscribe to our newsletter or Facebook page. We can even bring a virtual tour to you, as we did this month for the families of Cornerstone Montessori School families in Chantilly. We welcome your help and enthusiasm - indeed, no act is too small in helping to build our children's science museum!
Yours,
Nene Spivy
Chair, Board of Directors |
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3-2-1...Blast Off!
Children built rocket cars at Discover Engineering Family Day
British physicist Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) laid the foundation for the science of modern rocketry near the end of the 17th century. Newton's Laws of Motion are essential to rocket flight, stating that:
"Objects at rest will stay at rest, and objects in motion will stay in motion, in a straight line, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."
 In other words, the forces pushing a rocket up must be stronger than the force of gravity pulling it down.
A rocket is simply a chamber filled with pressurized gas. A small opening called a nozzle allows the air to escape, causing thrust that propels the rocket. This is demonstrated when you blow up a balloon and let it go without tying it off. The balloon will fly through the air as all the gas inside escapes.
Newton also stated, "For every action there is always an opposite and equal reaction." Or, when an action takes place, like gases escaping from the rocket, a reaction follows-in this case, the rocket rises in the air.
The laws of motion apply to more than just flying rockets! At the Discover Engineering Family Day Festival at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. on February 19, visitors to the Children's Science Center's Museum without Walls exhibit learned about motion and rocketry by experimenting with"balloon rocket cars" powered by pressurized gas (air in a balloon!). The Children's Science Center served nearly 2,000 children at this exciting event!
If you missed it, find directions online for making your own Balloon Rocket Car. |
What's all the Facebook Fuss? Take One Minute and Help us Spread the Word
Did you know that we have three times as many people on our newsletter distribution as our Facebook Fan Page? Did you know that Facebook is fastest growing medium for getting the word out? Did you know that it takes less then one minute to "Like" us on Facebook? 
If you are not a fan yet, please visit our fan page and "Like" us.
If you are a fan, suggest our fan page to your friends, family and colleagues. When we post events or updates, be sure to let your Facebook friends know what you think by posting a comment or clicking the "Like" button. Feel free to join the conversation and post ideas or information on our fan page that would be of interest to our fans.
Help us to expand our presence here in Northern Virginia and get more people involved. Go to our Facebook Fan Page right now! |
Imagine Their Future with a Children's Science Center
You are Invited on a Virtual Tour
As we highlighted last month, the Children's Science Center is hosting monthly events that we have dubbed Imagine Their Future Virtual Tours. These unique events are designed to spread the word about the urgent need for a hands-on children's science museum in our community. It is a one-hour program and virtual tour for people to see our plans firsthand. We are also seeking feedback and advice from the community.
The next dates and time for these events are March 15, 7:30 - 8:30 pm and April 6, 7:30 - 8:30 pm. The events are held in the Reston Town Center. Make plans to attend one of these informative sessions. Bring a friend!
If you would like to bring an Imagine Their Future event to your organization, school, homeowner's association or any interested group of folks, let us know. We are happy to take the show on the road like we are doing for Cornerstone Montessori School in Chantilly. At Cornerstone, we are hosting two events -- an Imagine Their Future Virtual Tour for parents during the evening and then a Museum without Walls event for the students during the day. We combined these two events to showcase our Children's Science Center project to our stakeholders young and old. We wanted to drive home the need for our museum in a highly interactive way.
Let us know your interest via email at Imagine@TheChildrensScienceCenter.org. |
The Children's Science Center is in need of a few good volunteers with expertise and interest in the following areas:
- Real Estate: We are seeking volunteers for our Site Selection Committee. Activities could include online and offline research, site visits, tracking site requirements and general assistance in all things related to commercial real estate.
- Fund Development: We are seeking volunteers for our Fund Development Committee to assist with online and offline research, donor relations and acknowledgements.
- Event Planning: We are seeking volunteers for our Fund Development Committee to assist with special events including our Virtual Tours.
- Public Relations and Community Outreach: We are seeking volunteers to assist in getting the word out about our project.
Let us know your interest by emailing Volunteer@TheChildrensScienceCenter.org. We can't wait to hear from you! |
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Upcoming Museum without Walls Events
Save the date for these future events 
Crocuses, robins and Museum without Walls -- these are just a few of the harbingers of spring in Northern Virginia! Mark your calendars for our upcoming events and plan to bring your children or some you know to these wonderful events where the children will have fun doing various experiments and activities!
Sunday, April 10 - The Children's Science Center at the Junior League's family friendly Strides for Success 5k Race and 1k Fun Run at The Shoppes at Fairfax Corner, Fairfax, 8:00 am - 12:00 pm. For more information see The Junior League of Northern Virginia.
Saturday, April 30 - The Children's Science Center will be at Kids in the Kitchen Children's Spring Health Fair, Kings Park Shopping Center, Springfield, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.
Saturday, May 14 - The Children's Science Center will be at the Grand Opening of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Sunday, May 29 - Monday, May 30: The Children's Science Center will be at Viva! Vienna! on Church Street and Dominion Road, Vienna, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.
Saturday, June 4: The Children's Science Center will be at the 31st Herndon Festival; Between Elden and Center Streets, Herndon, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.
Help us make these exciting events possible -- consider volunteering a few hours of your time to staff these events. Please contact us at Volunteer@ChildrensScienceCenter.org to learn more or sign up for a shift. |
Challenge: Make an Anemometer
Measure How Fast the Wind Blows
What You Need:
- Scissors
- 4 small paper drinking cups
- A marking pen
- 2 pieces of stiff, corrugated cardboard cut to the same length
- Ruler
- Stapler
- Push pins
- Sharpened pencil with eraser at the end
- Modeling Clay
- A timer or watch that shows second hands
What You Do:
- Cut off the rolled edges of the paper cups to make them lighter and color the outside of one cup with a marking pen.
- Cross the cardboard strips so they make a plus (+) sign. Staple them together.
- Take the ruler and pencil and draw lines from the outside corners of where the cardboard strips come together to the opposite corners. Where the pencil lines cross will be the exact middle of the cross.
- Staple the cups to the ends of the cardboard strips; make sure all the cups face the same direction.
- Push the pin through the center of the cardboard and attach the cardboard cross with the cups on it to the eraser point of the pencil. Blow each of the cups to make sure the cardboard spins around freely on the pin.
- Place the modeling clay on a surface outside, such as a porch railing, wooden fence rail, a wall or a rock. Stick the sharpened end of the pencil into the clay so it stands up straight.
Why this Works:
This anemometer cannot tell the wind speed in miles per hour, but it can give you an idea of how fast the wind is blowing.
Using your watch, count the number of times the colored cup spins around in one minute. You are measuring the wind speed in revolutions (turns) per minute. Weather forecasters' anemometers convert the revolutions per minute into miles per hour. Keep a record of the wind speeds you are measuring for the next few days.
Measure the wind speed at different times of the day. Is it the same in the morning; the afternoon; the evening? What is you move your anemometer to another location? Is it winder in other places? Do trees or buildings block the wind?
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| The Children's Science Center is an interactive hands-on museum being planned for Northern Virginia. Our mission is to excite children about science, technology, engineering, and math by making these subjects fun and enabling children to learn through play. For more information, visit www.TheChildrensScienceCenter.org
. Please direct all inquiries to The Children's Science Center, 485 Spring Park Place Suite 500, Herndon VA 20170.
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