It’s that promising time of year again when the sap starts to flow in Mid-Michigan! All are invited to celebrate the coming of spring at the Fenner Nature Center Maple Syrup Festival! At this yearly Lansing tradition at Fenner visitors will enjoy a Demonstration of the process of tapping, collecting and boiling the sap of the maple tree. The event shows the history of maple syrup and sugar making, from Native Americans through the pioneer period, and continuing to the current time.
The Maple Syrup Festival activities will include:
o Maple syrup demonstration in the Fenner Maple Tree Grove
o Maple leaf candy, maple syrup, cookbook and other related items for sale form the local Fogle Sugarbush Farm
o Tasty food items: maple syrup sundaes, maple leaf cookies, hot beverages, chips, popcorn and healthy snacks!
Local artisans will offer demonstrations and nature themed art work. Artists that will be featured are Bill Norton, photography; David Haviland, Native American flutes; Elizabeth Meyers, pottery; Marie Belton, jewelry; Wendy Wahn, pottery; Grand Ledge wood carvers; Anita Saviko, water colors and Roger Frye, photography.
There will also be a Blue Bird Box Display with children’s activity and prize drawing presented by Gene Wasserman. A used book sale, kid’s craft table and face painting will also be available. The festival will be Saturday and Sunday March 20-21, 11:00a.m.-4:00p.m. Entry is free.
The Fenner Gift Shop will be open throughout the festival! Guided Group Tours are available through March 16, reservations required. For more information call Fenner Nature Center: 517 483-4224, www.fofnc.org. The Fenner Nature Center offers a nature education facility, featuring classrooms, exhibits and library, and a premier greenspace, which features 130 acres of forests, fields and wetland habitats, located at 2020 E. Mt Hope, Lansing, on the corner of Mt. Hope and Aurelius Roads. It is one of Lansing’s natural treasures!
Parents still major
influence on child’s
decision to pursue
science careers
SAN DIEGO, CA — Parental influence and access to mathematics courses are likely to guide students to careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or medicine (STEMM), according to research from Michigan State University.
The findings of Jon Miller, MSU Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies, and colleagues were presented at a symposium titled “Tomorrow’s Scientists and Engineers” at this year’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The education of more researchers, engineers and others in the field of science is critical, Miller said.
“Failure to build and maintain a competitive scientific work force in the decades ahead,” Miller said, “will inevitably lead to a decline in the American standard of living.”
Miller used data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, which kept track of nearly 6,000 students from middle school through college, attempting to determine what led them to or guided them away from STEMM careers.
According to Miller, “The pathway to a STEMM career begins at home.” He said this is especially true in families in which children were strongly encouraged to go to college.
“Only four percent of students who experienced low parent encouragement to attend college planned to enter a postsecondary program and major in a STEMM field,” he said. “This compares to 41 percent of students whose parents strongly encouraged college attendance.”
The research also found that sons were slightly more encouraged than daughters to do well in science and math.
Also influential, although not on the same level as parental encouragement, is the parents’ education level. The research found that approximately 27 percent of the children of college graduates planned to major in a STEMM field, compared to 18 percent of parents with a high school diploma.
The research also reinforced the role mathematics plays in the pursuit of a STEMM career.
“Mathematics is a primary gateway to a STEMM career,” Miller said, “beginning with algebra track placement in grades seven and eight, and continuing through high school and college calculus courses.”
The researchers said high school and college science courses have “small, positive effects” on a student’s decision to pursue a STEMM career, but is not at the level of mathematics.
For additional information on the AAAS meeting and other MSU presentations, go to http://special.news.msu.edu/aaas2010/.
