College of Education News

First the kids tossed a couple bean bags, shot a few hoops, and kicked some soccer goals. Then they were told to put on the distortion goggles and try again.

“This opened conversations about the learning capacity of the human brain, in addition to the role of hand-eye coordination during sports and everyday activities,” said Katie Dow, a senior in LAS, completing a Secondary Education Minor in the College of Education. “If nothing else, children and their families shared many laughs when the distortion goggles changed their ability to aim correctly.”

Dow, along with 16 students from the University of Illinois student chapter of the National Science Teachers' Association and the Neuroscience Club, spent part of her holiday break sharing science with children at Mayor Daley's Holiday Sports Festival in Chicago. Barbara Hug, faculty member in Curriculum and Instruction at the College of Education, served as an adviser, helping to organize activities.

“Science Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry asked our campus to help make science come alive and relate to sports for the 8-14 year olds at this event,” said Kris Campbell, Assistant Vice Chancellor of the Office of Public Engagement. Campbell slated attendance between 300- 1000 children each day of the event.

“We are extremely grateful to all the students and staff who took time out of their holiday break to represent the University of Illinois and bring the excitement of science to a traditional sporting event,” Campbell added.

In addition to examining the power of perception, children explored the physics of pool-ball collisions and the makeup of muscle tissue through a microscope. As a volunteer at the event, Dow worked at a station where children could monitor their heart rate before, during, and after sports activity. “Kids--and their parents--enjoyed seeing their heart rates peak and return to a resting heart rate on a graph,” Dow said.
With graduation approaching this May, Dow plans to become a biology and chemistry high school teacher. Her participation in the event underscores the Illinois STEM initiative, which seeks to increase the number and quality of science, technology, engineering, and math teachers who graduate from Illinois. To forge ahead in this effort, the College of Education has partnered with the colleges of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Applied Health Sciences; Engineering; Liberal Arts and Sciences; Veterinary Medicine; and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

On a personal level, Dow said her attending the sports festival added a new dimension to the fun side of science. “It was an opportunity for kids to ‘play’ with science and see real-life applications,” she said, adding that she will continue to pursue ways to “make learning science more meaningful--and fun--for my future students.”

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