When students enter the Splash Education Center, they enter a world of fun, hands-on science investigation that builds on the knowledge they’ve acquired in the classroom through the curriculum materials and activities. After a brief introduction, the students split into three groups. Each group follows its guide through the three learning stations in the Center.
At the microscope station, the students get to see things that few kids (or adults for that matter) ever get a chance to see! They peer through microscopes and identify live specimens of aquatic invertebrates that inhabit the vernal pools at Mather.
The Splash Elementary Curriculum contains strong messages about protecting water quality throughout our watersheds. The concept of a watershed can be difficult to grasp. We’ve found the best way to help students understand it is to experiment with a model of an urban area with streams flowing through it.
Critterville is frequently the highlight of a student’s time inside the Center. Here, the students get “up close and personal” with live animals that are commonly found in and around the vernal pools at Mather.
“If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.” - Rainer Maria Rilka
Sir Hiss-a-Lot was hatched sometime around 1993. When Sir Hiss was a baby snake, he was captured by a boy who didn’t know that you should never keep a wild animal as a pet. Nonetheless, the boy took excellent care of him for about 10 years…
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.
