Learn about science in Spanish at Explorando las Ciencias

Explorando las Ciencias, a popular Spanish-language science outreach event, has grown into a new venue, bigger schedule and a new partnership with the Madison Police Department.

The fourth annual event will take place from 2 to 10 p.m. on Friday, June 22, at Warner Park in the Community Recreation Center and shelter at Warner Park, 1625 Northport Drive, and with the help of “Amigos en Azul,” a Madison police organization aimed at building partnerships in the city’s Hispanic community.

Volunteers willing to present hands-on science exploration stations or to translate for native Spanish speakers are welcome to take part.

In the past, hundreds of children and their families have visited the UW Space Place for the event, says Chris Moore, outreach coordinator for the Synchrotron Radiation Center and an Explorando las Ciencias organizer.

“My experience is the kids are so good with English they help me translate the science terms,” Moore says. “Having translators and doing a lot of this in Spanish is really to get the kids’ parents involved in the event, so they can share in what their children are learning.”

The police partnership grew out of a chance encounter during astronomy outreach night held at Warner Park by UW Space Place — the home of the first three Explorandos las Ciencias events.

Police office members of Amigos en Azul (or “Friends in Blue”) enjoyed the stargazing opportunity enough to help SRC and Space Place expand the dual-language science day to eight hours of hands-on science stations, wildlife explorations of the park, a Wonders of Physics show, picnicking and a “Stars over Warner” observation of the night sky.

A detailed schedule and signup for interested volunteers are available at the Explorando website at http://www.science.wisc.edu/explorando_las_ciencias.htm. For more information, contact Moore at cmoore@src.wisc.edu.