in a time where the moon landings and
shuttle missions are ancient history the
things that inspired so many of our
current scientists and engineers and the
Mars missions seem like an eternity away
how do we inspire the next generation to
pursue careers in STEM fields because
technology surrounds us the need for
stem based jobs is increasing although
the desire to pursue such careers has
been decreasing something that we
weren’t really expecting we need to get
the next generation excited about STEM
careers and how do we do this we spark
the imagination of the next generation
and make stem seem fun and exciting how
do we actually do that well we get them
a hand or we get kids to get hands-on in
their learning we give them role models
so they can see themselves in a stem
career we tell them the questions
they’re going to be the ones to answer
someday and lastly we leave them wanting
to learn more so instead of lecturing
kids about the forces of nature we can
actually have them experience those
forces of nature for themselves now at
the Michigan Science Center we like to
get interactive so I’m going to need a
little bit of help from my friend Lee
over here come on up come on up on stage
everyone give her a round of applause
so normally I don’t get to choose my
volunteers beforehand but she’s been
awesome and volunteering this morning
so she doesn’t really know exactly
what’s gonna be happening I told her
she’s gonna be spinning but she doesn’t
know what we’re doing so wait come on
over here
I’m gonna have you step up on this
platform right here all right there we
go all right you okay excellent
so I’m gonna go ahead and give you a
little bit of a spin and I want you to
hold your arms out like this and then
when I tell you to I want you to bring
your hands in really quickly okay
okay all right let’s see what happens
let’s give her a nice little spin okay
Lee go ahead and bring your arms in put
it back up bring it back in put it back
out all right you guys can kind of see
that she is I know I can stop yeah you
can kind of see that she is speeding up
a little bit when she brings her arms
and but if we add a little bit of weight
all right I’m gonna give you these five
pound weights right here and I want you
to hold them out just like you were
before I know you’re getting your
workout today hold those weights out and
then bring them in really quickly just
like you did okay all right we’re gonna
okay now bring your arms in
[Music]
go ahead put it back out bring it back
in put it back out all right I’m gonna
stop you before you throw up okay all
right you can step down again give me a
round of applause for being my volunteer
so Lee were you actually able to feel
the forces that were acting on you while
you were on that spinning platform
yeah when you can feel the forces that
are acting on you you’re more likely to
remember that and then in turn be able
to set up the force equations and
understand the mathematics behind why
all of that works now I want to get
everyone involved so I want everyone
with me to imagine a scientist go ahead
imagine a scientist close your eyes if
you must
everyone imagining that scientist okay I
bet that you’re imagining someone like
Albert Einstein or Nikola Tesla Bill Nye
all of which have a lot in common not
all kids are gonna grow up and look like
them so we need to give kids role models
so that they’re able to grow up and see
someone that isn’t a career that looks a
lot like them now I personally am a
scientist I’m an astronomer and I don’t
really look much like your typical
scientist although I do look like I
so at the Michigan Science Center we
have started what we call them the stem
anis to project to show middle school
girls that not only are there women out
there in STEM fields but to have those
women mentor the girls those women
actually mentor the girls and show them
it’s okay to be a nerd everyone
remembers that one person that had an
impact on their life and their career if
it weren’t for my high school physics
teacher Miss Sharon Brock I may not have
ended up growing up and becoming a
scientist I may not have ended up
growing up and pursuing physics now so
far we’ve talked about the things that
we can see things we can feel things we
can touch but there’s a lot of stuff in
the universe that we can’t see a lot of
stuff in the universe that we don’t know
and if we tell kids the things that we
don’t know and tell them they’re going
to be the ones to figure out the answers
to those questions they’re gonna have
something to look forward to now I want
everyone in here so anyone in here ever
hear of dark matter before go and raise
your hands have you heard of mater
before okay quite a few of you how many
of you in here raised keep your hands
raised if you know what dark matter is
okay we still have a few hands raised
you’re gonna be winning the Nobel Prize
in Physics no one knows what dark matter
is we haven’t been able to directly
detect it so there’s really no way to
definitively prove at this point what
dark matter is dark matter is one of my
favorite things to talk about in the
planetarium because I get to tell kids I
don’t know I don’t know what dark matter
is dark matter is stuff that we can’t
see but we’re pretty sure it’s there and
it’s going to take the next generation
of scientists to figure it out I once
had a little boy in the planetarium and
he was so excited about Dark Matter he
actually came up to me after the show
and he told me five-year-old boy I’m
gonna be the one to figure out what dark
matter is that day
I know that boy is gonna become a
scientist someday and I like to think
that I had an impact on his life so
being the planetarium I like to end
every show with a ride on a Mobius loop
not because I talk about the shape or
the mathematics behind it although if
they ask I totally will but we can’t
because kids love it I like to have
every experience that they have with
science ending with something that makes
them want to come back and do it again
now because I can’t take everyone in
here on a virtual rollercoaster ride on
a Mobius loop through space I’m gonna
have to settle for something else that’s
pretty fun so right here I have sort of
your average trash can and I’ve cut a
hole in the bottom everyone can see that
hole right there and I have stretched a
shower curtain over the end and if I
take this you guys see my little paper
cup right there if I take this and I hit
it and knock the cup down now if I add
just a little bit of a fog of it to this
let’s see if we can get this where again
I can add just a little bit of fog to
this oh there we go we’re actually gonna
be able to see the shape that this makes
when we hit the center of the can the
air in the center is moving faster than
the air on the edges and we can see we
can just make fun smoke rings now before
I go I want to encourage all the
scientists engineers and mathematicians
out there to help me make stem fun let’s
let’s give them the questions that we
don’t know
let’s get them hands-on in their
learning and let’s inspire the next
generation of scientists together [Applause]