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HAFTR kids learn that science is everywhere

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HAFTR scientists discovered that you can learn about science anywhere, even on a bus!

Students in kindergarten, fourth and fifth grades explored microscopic organisms with the BioBus, a mobile science lab. The instructors were experts in their fields and introduced students to the world of microscopic organisms.

Younger students used a hand-held microscope to explore microorganisms found in the world around them. Students inspected their shoes, their skin, the shapes found in their hair strands and the fibers of their uniforms. They used state-of-the-art microscopes, to observe movements of Daphnia, microscopic animals found in ponds and puddles across New York City.

Scientists in fourth and fifth grades, also observing through Daphnia, discovered how these single-celled organisms work together inside the freshwater ecosystem. Looking at large screen video microscopes, students marveled at the wriggling and tumbling paramecia, amoeba and bacteria race across the slide.

Perhaps most amazing to students was that the bus operated on solar power and was heated even in this cold weather.