uncnews.unc.edu

Children in central North Carolina can explore the science of simple machines by signing up for GlaxoSmithKline’s free Science in the Summer education program.

It is coordinated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center and is funded with a two-year $769,700 grant from GlaxoSmithKline.

Science in the Summer encourages children to develop a lifelong interest in and appreciation of science, according to Mary Linda Andrews, GlaxoSmithKline’s director of community partnerships. This year, the program will serve more than 2,500 children throughout North Carolina.

Public libraries and other community sites host Science in the Summer in Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Harnett, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties. K-12 science teachers serve as instructors, using curriculum materials developed for the program and for Morehead Summer Science Camps. High school students assist the teachers.

Program coordinator Jarrett Grimm said children will learn about six different simple machines by building levers and inclined planes, experimenting with pulleys and gears and constructing devices based on simple machines. They will also learn about Newton’s laws of motion.

GlaxoSmithKline’s Science in the Summer education program offers five half-days of activities for children in elementary grades. Children in middle grades are eligible for three half-days of activities, which include laboratory experiments aboard a mobile science laboratory.

There is no charge to participate in the program, but spaces are limited. Registration is online, with registration opening on four separate dates in March.

For more information, please visit www.scienceinthesummer.com.

Photo: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/science/2012/sis_circuit.jpg
Caption: A student in GlaxoSmithKline’s Science in the Summer enrichment program assembled an electrical circuit during a session on electricity and magnetism in 2011. This year, Science in the Summer sessions will focus on simple machines.

Science in the Summer contact for North Carolina: Crystal Harden, (919) 843-8496
GlaxoSmithKline contact: Jennifer Armstrong, (919) 483-2839
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center contact: Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952