Middle School

We talk about the science of making concrete, while people get to make their own concrete. We will have concrete ingredients on the tables so that kids and parents are able to make concrete.

Learn Modular Origami and make your own! Children and grownups will create their own modular origami for beginners and advanced learners. Learn about origami art, history and STEM!

Visitors to the booth can participate in a walkthrough illustrating the basics of genetics and how DNA can affect our physical beings. Following the walkthrough, visitors can enjoy three hands on activity stations. The first is a Build your own DNA station, the second is a genetic engineering station, and at the final station, a robot can be build based on the selection of dominate or recessive genes from two parent robots.

The San Diego River Park foundation will host a booth highlighting our Cool River Education Program. Displays will include live macroinvertebrates,and information for schools and youth groups to sign up for free environmental science education programs.

Get closer to science! Guests will be able to explore ocean and earth science through conversation and hands-on activities! Join Birch Aquarium to discover some of the amazing things that go on below the surface of the ocean, on the beach, and sometimes in your own backyard.

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum will present an Alternative Energy and Trains display, with our city trolley layout that runs on solar power, a pinwheel craft to demonstrate the use of wind power to move trains, and a visual display of alternative energy used for trains around the world.

Neurosciences graduate students founded and organized the Neuroscience Outreach Program to share our knowledge of the brain and neuroscience research with San Diego students and community members. This year at the EXPO our student volunteers present several teaching modules, including sheep brain dissection, comparative neuroanatomy, and demonstrations of electrical signaling in the nervous system, including making a cockroach leg "dance" to music played through an iPhone.

Since 2009 Castle Park High students, with Dr. Pomeroy of UCSD, have learned to produce biodiesel from vegetable oil. Students use a particle counter to determine how “clean” the fuel burns and discuss how particulate impacts our global climate. Students present this field data to support the benefits of biodiesel. Our booth, as in years past, will demonstrate the step-by-step process of biodiesel synthesis, discuss the advantages of biodiesel over petroleum and outline the ease of production.

Discover the exciting ways that your brain helps you to perceive your world. Learn about your perceptions through visual illusions and how your memory reflects how you see, think and remember. Discover the amazing world of Psychological Science and how science explains how your mind works!

Water education hands-on science lessons. Water pollution detective game, marine debris, and/or watershed model.