So you want to be a scientist...

So You Want To Be A Scientist...

Through Nature in the Neighborhood and Splash Club children and their parents get to meet scientists who live and work in our region as they share what they know and love about exploring life outdoors. These experiences at Splash can open eyes, warm hearts and expand minds to possibilities for their future pursuits.

Many professional scientists in our region work with nature as their job. They make a living practicing science.  However, thousands more lay scientists practice scientific investigation as a pastime and study nature for fun. In fact, many lay scientists become experts in their field of interest because they love nature and they love learning about it. 

For life-long learners, there is always more to explore and investigate in nature. Many professional and lay scientists spend time sharing their knowledge with young people, hoping that nature exploration will give them the joy that they experience. Most believe that every generation inherits the work (and the fun) of preserving wildlife from the previous generation, and is responsible for passing it on to the next one.

Here are some examples of the fields of study that professional and lay scientists pursue...

Botany

Botanists study plants. Over 10,000 species of plants live in California, so a botanist has a lot of studying to do just to learn to identify them. But botany is more than just knowing the names of plants. Botanists learn where and when plants bloom, what pollinates them, and what eats them.

Ornithology

Ornithologists study birds. Some are especially interested in birds of prey, such as eagles, hawks, and owls.

Zoology

Zoologists study animals but the animal kingdom has too many animals for one person to know all about. So, most zoologists focus their study on a particular group of animals.

Sacramento Splash - Helping children understand and value their natural world picture
VICTORY - Splash Lives!

Thanks to an outpouring of community support, the Board of the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (SRCSD) voted UNANIMOUSLY to continue funding the Splash program.

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Sacramento Splash - Helping children understand and value their natural world picture
Bacteria made life possible on Earth

For 2 billion years, bacteria were the only creatures on Earth. Long before the dinosaurs, a special type of bacteria slowly increased the level of oxygen in the Earth's air to 20 percent. Without this oxygen other plants and animals could not have evolved, including us.