Wheels in Woodford

The Monday before last, Science On Wheels, that forlorn venture of the Malvern Science Resource Centre, had another shot at a blaze of glory. Caitlin got the keys to the Science Wagon and we drove it half-way across the island to provide science education to a group of kids attending a summer camp run by our friends and fellow PCVs', Chad and Jamie James. The James live up in Woodford, where we had the Poker Tournament (if you've been following this blog you'd remember) and the camp was being held at their Homework and Literacy Learning Centre. Woodford overlooks Kingston, but I seriously doubt that even 2% of the people that have lived in or visited Kingston have ever been to Woodford. In science we call that the 'Ninety-Eight Percent Test' and if data falls in that 2% group, it's considered insignificant. This is the primary cause of the dispute that fringe, lunatic groups have with science. Sadly, they typically constitute less that 2% of the population. So, in summary, less that 2% of the population of Kingston has been to Woodford, therefore Kingston is insignificant, a.k.a. it constitutes a fringe lunatic group. These are not my words, this is Science. [Editor's Note : To those of you that may be concerned, this is in fact the Famous Socratic Implicational Fallacy. No, he didn't use Kingston as his subject, but this particular method of trying to create a false implication was something early Greek Thinkers disproved. So Kingstonians, according to the Ancient Greek Thinkers (AGTs), you are indeed, significant.]

As you may know, Caitlin worked the Seafood Jamboree late into Sunday night and somewhat into Monday morning. From there, she napped for about 5 hours and then drove the Science Wagon to Woodford. Strangely, although she was tired, she was considerable more sober than some people on the road. Seriously, people, it's a Monday morning, you should be drinking coffee. Anyway, we did make it to Papine and then up into the mountains to Woodford without incident. Probably, it was the stop at Juici Patti for a breakfast of Hominy Porridge and Fried Dumplings that saved us. That was my idea.

It has been some time since either of us has done Science On Wheels, but as soon as those kids trooped in, we fell right into the rhythm of 'Hearing and Sound' like old pros. We chose the Hearing lesson to present because it has the most (and coolest) experiments. But before running the experiments, Caitlin took half the group and I the other and we did worksheets and the computer presentation. I don't know how the worksheets went, but the children Jamie and Chad work with are really sweet. I love teaching to schoolkids from smaller, rural areas. They are attentive and bright, their attitudes are in the right place and they are respectful. These kids were no different. Sure, they were a little rowdy, but then it is Summer Camp. They especially liked the 'We are a Nerve' exercise, which is basically my nerdified version of Chinese Whispers, in which each kid represents a neuron and the electro-chemical signal they send is a whispered word into the "dendrite" (ear) of their neighboring neuron, until it reaches the temporal lobe kid who states what he or she hears. It's fun, really, try it with your neighbors.

After the computer animations and worksheets, we sent the kids on snack break and assembled our motley collection of mostly homemade experiments. Caitlin was beginning to fade (working at an all-day and night event then driving for 6 hours, in Jamaica, will do that to you), so I largely ran the experiment end of things. We did a number of activities, blowing on the bottles with differing levels of water, strumming the strings of a guitar, snapping a rubber band, etc. But the usual winners won again. The eardrum experiment, where I put rice on a drum and then have kids shout at it with a funnel horn was a massive crowd pleaser, as was listen to heartbeats and coughs with the stethoscope. All in all, quite a good time. I think I imparted the basic concepts of sound (as a result of vibration), pitch (smaller things, higher pitch, as reverse), and the basic method of hearing (sound waves striking something make it vibrate).

We spent the night in cool Woodford with Chad and Jamie. It was fun, we ate burritos, watched soap operas and talked about Peace Corps (the golden triad of Volunteer interaction was thus achieved). We are happy to count ourselves amongst that <2% of the population that has visited Woodford, even if that does mean we're the lunatic fringe.

Since we appear to be operating at about a week and a half behind schedule, stay tuned for 'Technology Training of Trainees' and 'Partying In Portmore Without Power'...