Sensing
Our World

2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998

Science Day
at the Mall
2002
2001


The aim of the Center for Sensor Materials K-12 education outreach is to reveal the fascination and demonstrate the relevance of physical science to pre-college students through lectures, demonstrations, hands-on activities and projects. The Center offers a summer science camp, Sensing our World, designed for 7th and 8th grade students. Two one-week sessions are offered on the Michigan State University campus, in association with Capital Area Science and Math Center(CASM), a Lansing area association of K-12 science and math teachers. 

The CSM is an annual presence at a Lansing community education outreach event, Science Day at the Mall. This event draws an audience of 6000 to 9000 people of varying ages and backgrounds, with a particularly high representation of elementary school children and their parents. CSM faculty, staff and students explain the operation and principles of simple sensors used in the home and outdoors. 

The Center mentors MSU Science Theater, a student run organization that teaches science to K-12 students through in-school demonstrations. Many of the CSM graduate students are active members. In 2000, Science Theater presented science shows at 20 schools, reaching more than one thousand students. The CSM is working with Science Theater to publish a two-volume set of tested classroom demonstrations that emphasize scientific methodologies and principles.