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UNC Morehead
Afterschool Program Teams Up with UNC’s Department of Exercise and Sport
Science Labs
There were no Friday
winter blahs for 22 Morehead Afterschool Program children when they
descended upon UNC’s Exercise and Sport Science Labs in Chapel Hill!
Children from kindergarten through fifth grade learned what it was like to
be a sport scientist. The exercise science theme, “Are you Ironman
Strong?”, had kids testing their grip strength and lung volume capacity in
a creative effort to learn about the importance of muscle mass and lung
function for healthy bodies as part of “Physiology Week”. Making exercise
science fun was a major thrust where the children put their grip strength
and lung function test scores to practical use by attempting to squeeze
juice cans and blow colorful ping-pong balls across a laboratory table.
Learning Archimedes Principle that muscle sinks and lungs filled with air
floats was simulated by dropping water-filled balloons into the Applied
Physiology Lab’s 5-foot deep underwater weighing tank – and comparing
that to the floatability of air-filled rubber ducks. A big hit was sitting
in the outer-space looking Bod PodÔ,
a body composition device used to determine muscle mass for research as
well as for testing future NFL-bound players, and romping around in the
Sports Medicine’s 3-D Motion Analyses Lab. They even learned about
laboratory safety and were taught how to recognize biohazard safety signs.
The field trip to Fetzer
Gym’s Exercise and Sport Science Labs was part of Morehead’s Afterschool
Science Program organized by Morehead Afterschool Science Program Manager
Jonathan Frederick and Dr. Bonita Marks, Associate Professor in Exercise
Physiology and Director of the Exercise Science Teaching Lab at UNC. Dr.
Marks recruited fellow exercise scientist colleagues (Drs. Claudio
Battaglini, Anthony Hackney, Kristin Ondrak, Meredith Petschauer) to
assist in pulling off this first-time event with the Morehead’s
Afterschool Program. “I don’t know who learned more, us or the kids”
quipped Dr. Marks. “Bringing exercise science alive and making it fun for
elementary school children was certainly a change of pace from teaching
college students. It was truly a rewarding experience. The kids asked
fantastic questions and really seemed to have fun. ”
The Morehead Program is
designed and directed by experienced science educators and staffed by UNC
science, education and related majors who are dedicated to sharing science
with children. The program takes advantage of their UNC campus location by
engaging with world-class UNC faculty, touring campus labs and visiting
UNC's other top-notch cultural resources. For more information about
Morehead’s Afterschool Program, please contact the Morehead Afterschool
Science Program manager, Jonathan Frederick at (919) 843-7951.
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