Deep Thoughts
Notes from the underground by Communications Director Constance Walter
Monday, May 26, 2015
Field trips bring hundreds of students
M
id-April through May is known as field trip season to the Sanford
Lab Education and Outreach Department. And for good reason. A
dozen schools brought more than 300 students to Sanford Lab. It takes
everyone on the team to make these trips educational and safe.
West Middle School in Rapid City brought 98 students May 1, all of
whom took part in four separate activities at Sanford Lab. Students
learn about experiments like LUX and discuss ways the discovery of
dark matter might prove useful. One excited 5th grader asked Deputy
Director of Education and Outreach Peggy Norris, ‘Could you use dark
matter to make a force field to shield Earth from asteroids?’ “Moments
such as this are what fuels us and keeps us going,” said Norris, “Our
mission is to use the science happening at Sanford Lab to excite
students in South Dakota and get them thinking about careers in science
and engineering as they go through school.”
Photos clockwise: Bree Oatman supervises a water filtration activity at Manuel
Brothers Park. Tom Campbell gives a geology talk at the Open Cut. Julie Dahl
passes out plates for an activity called “Dark Matter Plates” in which students try to
find hidden masses between two paper plates. Peggy Norris and Ben Sayler lead
the students on a tour of the Yates Hoistroom. Photos by Matt Kapust.
South Dakota Science and Technology Authority
Lead, South Dakota