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CONCORD — The children were out in force Saturday, but it wasn’t amusement park rides or the lure of pre-Halloween treats that attracted them.
The hundreds of children swarming over the Cal State East Bay campus in Concord were there for the science — robotics, engineering, solar energy, biology, astrophysics and medicine. The fact that they were having fun extracting DNA from bananas, making lava lamps and walking across a basketball court-sized map of Mars didn’t change that.
Saturday’s Science Festival, a series of math, science, engineering and biology events presented by Chevron and organized by UC San Francisco, is aimed to expose children — and some adults — to what hands-on science looks and feels like. In Concord, festival-goers went from table to table, performing simple experiments and tickling their interests.
Maelin Serrano, 8, of Concord, begged her mother, Emma Serrano, to bring her to the festival, and she wasted no time in completing her first experiment, making magnetic slime.
She learned about the festival when her third-grade teacher at Ygnacio Valley Elementary, told the class about it.
“She’s always saying how she wants to mix things,” Emma Serrano said. “She told me, ‘Mom, let’s go.’ ”
It was a good fit for Maelin, who plans to become a chemist. Alana Ball, 12, also of Concord, has a different career in mind. She was marveling at the 3-D printer on display when she was distracted by the thing she loves the most — animals.
She rushed over to Mount Diablo Interpretive Association’s table, which was laden with artifacts of animals that live on the mountain, along with live tarantulas, scorpions and snakes.
“This is awesome,” Alana said, repeatedly as naturalist Michael Marchiano placed a feisty California king snake in her arms.
“I just love animals,” Alana said, a huge smile on her face. “They are my favorite. Some of them might bite me, but as long as they aren’t venomous, it’s OK. I’m going to ask my dad for a snake, but he’ll probably say no.”
Alana is extremely fond of snakes, and some lizards, and she plans to turn her love for all animals into a career as a trainer.
Some of the children haven’t given it much thought about what careers they might pursue, but they also are part of the festival’s target audience.
Joseph Carter, 22, an electrical engineer and computer science student at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, said the experiments show the youngsters that science is not too difficult or boring. Science, which can encompass many areas, should be something students find approachable.
Carter is part of Diablo Valley College’s MESA team — Math, Engineering, Science Achievement. All of the students in MESA are part of the school’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program, and MESA allows them to work as a community to help and support each other.
“We came up with four experiments that focus on elementary students,” Carter said. “We want to show that just because you’re not officially a scientist, you can still do science.”
The Science Festival continues at different locations through next week, including the eighth annual Discovery Day at AT&T Park in San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday; tours of Oakland Zoo’s Habitarium and California Trail, 2:45 to 4 p.m. Monday, and of UC Berkeley’s Atomic Physics Labs, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
All the events are free, although some require advance registration. For events, dates and times, go to www.bayareasciencefestival.org
