4-H Delivers

Tassajara Club Sponsors National 4-H Science Day

The Issue:
The 4-H National Science Day is a creative way of getting youth interested in science and engineering and making members aware of wind power and alternative energy. 

 

What has 4-H Done?:
The Tassajara 4-H Club invited members from other clubs within Contra Costa County to attend the National Youth Science Day (NYSD). Members were encouraged to bring a friend as a way to outreach into the community and share 4-H. To prepare for the event, a 4-H member committee was formed to plan the event. There were two planning meetings, one with the leaders and chairperson and another to train committee members about the experiment. Additionally, the 4-H youth leading the NYSD event practiced giving the experiment beforehand so that they would be proficient teaching the experiment to others.

The evening of the NYSD event was started with a 4-H Science Fair where community members were encouraged to bring in science posters and experiments that they had previously performed. The Science Fair was designed to showcase the interest in science and engineering within the community and highlight some of the science and engineering projects the Tassajara club offers. The group broke into subgroups and committee members then spread out to help lead the activities within each. Committee members reviewed the material with each subgroup and let them design and build unique turbines. There was a test table where members took measurements of their model’s ability to generate electricity through the use of a voltmeter. After the building phase was complete, a competition was held between teams to see who could generate the most power from their design. Finally, to conclude the experiment, each team discussed the merits of their design, why they thought it worked well, and how they might improve it in the future.

 

The Payoff:
Contra Costa County 4-H received great publicity about the event from the coverage two local papers provided. The articles and photos were also republished in the 4-H Club Newsletter and posted on the club and county web sites. As a result of the event and publicity, two new members enrolled in the Tassajara club and are participating in the Pinball and Robotics projects.