The Maura Whittemore Memorial Open Lab Night

If you are not able to join us for Open Lab Night, the following activities can be done at home or nearby outdoor space using common household items. Activities followed by an asterisk indicate that information about purchase of materials can be found in the supply list.

A Bird’s Song: What Can it Tell Us? (Appropriate for all ages).
In this online lab, you will investigate how different bird sounds travel and what helps them travel further. Learn how to “read” sounds using a spectrogram to visualize bird sounds, predict which bird sound will travel the farthest, and learn why this is important for their behavior. Using your phone, tablet or computer, test real bird sounds under different conditions to see which work best for communicating in different habitats. Come learn about North American birds and the unique sounds they make!

A Look Into the Eye  (Most appropriate for Pre-k to grade 5 students but can be done by all ages).
The eye is a mysterious thing. Let’s explore how the eye works and really see if we can trust what our eyes see with some optical illusions.

Batman and Bats: The Power of Flight (Most appropriate for middle and high school students but can be done by all ages).
Have you ever wondered how bats evolved to be the only free-flying mammals? Why can't humans fly too? In this activity, you will learn about the key adaptations bats have for flight, and compare their wing anatomy to human arms and other flying devices.

Buckle Up and Ride: Soaring into Engineering (Appropriate for all ages).
Have you ever wondered what makes a roller coaster move so fast? Now you can find out by building your very own roller coaster! We will be exploring the connection between constructing your roller coaster (engineering) and creating a theme and putting color into your roller coaster (art). Speed, velocity, kinetic and potential energy will also be introduced. So the question is, are you ready for the challenge?

Build a “BATS”achusetts Food Web (Most appropriate for middle school students but can be done by all ages). In this activity, you’ll learn a bit about how organisms get energy in an ecosystem, and what roles they play. After some background basics, you’ll put together a food web with some common BATS of Massachusetts as the focus consumers

Build Your Own Virtual Museum! (Appropriate for all ages).
In this activity, you will be asked to do the jobs of a creative director and software engineer as you build your own virtual museum exhibit. You will learn programming skills and show us your creativity!

Can you Stop a Landslide? (Most appropriate for Pre-k to grade 5 students but can be done by all ages).
Did you know water is a powerful, destructive force that can cause erosion and landslides. Let’s learn more about landslides and see if we can prevent them from happening.

Did You Know that Fish Have Teeth in Their Throat?  (Appropriate for all ages).
Well, some fish do! Join this activity to learn more about why your teeth have different shapes, see how certain fish use their teeth in their throat, and help us identify fossilized fish teeth.

Dig Deeper - A Geologic Activity (Appropriate for all ages).
Create a model of what the ground looks like below our feet without cutting into the Earth!

Don’t Get ‘Tide’ Down, Play with Waves!  (Most appropriate K to grade 5 students but can be done by all ages).
Have you ever gone to the beach and wondered how waves are formed and how they affect the objects in the ocean? Complete this activity to experience how waves move and how different factors influence the formation of waves.

Earthshaking Earthquakes! (Most appropriate for middle school students but can be done by all ages).
Learn all about earthquakes, seismic waves, why earthquakes happen, and where they happen! They will then make their own seismograph and see energy waves pass through it when they hit a table/surface!

Exploring Sundials (Appropriate for all ages).
This is an engaging activity where children of all ages will use everyday household materials to build and improve their own sundial. There will be decisions to make about where to place the sundial; how to design it so that it is sturdy and easy to interpret; how to make sure that we can use it during most of the year. In the end, children will share the challenges they came across and the decisions they made along the way.

Forensic Casting (Most appropriate for middle and high school students but can be done by all ages).
Criminals often think to avoid leaving behind their fingerprints at the crime scene, but what about their footprints? Let’s learn more about footwear impressions and how forensic scientists gather and record this type of evidence

Invisible Extinguisher (Most appropriate for middle and high school students but can be done by all ages).
Do you believe in magic? In this experiment you will learn how to extinguish a candle with an invisible substance. Is it magic or science?

Is this Water Healthy? (Most appropriate for middle and high school students but can be done by all ages).
Aquatic organisms require water with specific pH, dissolved oxygen, and nutrients in order to stay healthy. Using simple chemical analysis, you can examine a local water body and try to determine if the water is healthy enough to support life. Find a local water body and investigate. 

Let’s Capture a Shadow (Most appropriate for Pre-k to grade 5 students but can be done by all ages).
Ever wondered how shadows are made? In this activity we will explore shadows, how they change and see if we can capture a shadow to keep forever as a piece of artwork.

Let’s Make a Watershed! (Most appropriate for K to grade 4 students but can be done by all ages).
Do you know where all the rain goes after it rains in your neighborhood or community? In this investigation we will build are own watershed to learn how water moves, travels and carries things within a watershed.

Locked Out: Engineering Challenge (Most appropriate for Pre-k to grade 5 students but can be done by all ages).
We have all played with magnets before and seen the amazing power of the magnetic force. Let’s see if we can use our knowledge of magnets to create a working lock.

Nature’s Recyclers (Appropriate for all ages).
The food chain doesn’t end after a plant or animal dies, it’s a continuous cycle. Let’s take a walk in the woods and learn about the important process of decomposition and where it all takes place.

Phyllostomidae Feeding Frenzy (Most appropriate for high school students but can be done by all ages).
Come and explore the wonderful world of Lead-Nosed Bats. In this activity you will learn about the evolutionary history of the most diverse mammalian family on Earth! The feeding ecology in this bat family covers fruit eaters, carnivorous bats, and blood suckers. Participants will learn how each bat’s morphology has evolved, allowing them to have such specialized diets.

Phylogenetics of Bats (Most appropriate for high school students but can be done by all ages).
In this investigation we will discover how the various families and species of bats are related to each other based on their physical traits, behaviors and evolutionary histories. To accomplish this, we will explore and utilize the concept of phylogenetics and learn the method of building a phylogenetic tree.

Pollen Detectives (Appropriate for all ages).
Many people think of pollen as that dusty yellow powder that makes people with allergies miserable. However, did you know that pollen from different plants has a unique shape? This activity will allow you to explore microscopic images of pollen, search the great outdoors for pollinating plants and learn that pollen can help figure out how the landscape once appeared on an archaeological site or can help in forensic investigations.

Rock Yoga: Modelling Rock Deformation with Play-do (Most appropriate for Pre-k to grade 8 students but can be done by all ages).
Can rocks do yoga? The answer is sort of! Over very long periods of time rocks can bend, fold, and stretch when they are subjected to different stresses. Play-doh will be used to model the ways rocks can bend and fold. We will explore how we see these folds on Earth’s surface through geologic maps and models. Rocks may not seem like they are soft (pliable) like Play-doh but under the right conditions they are!  

Sifting Through Layers - Exploring Sediment (Most appropriate for middle school students but can be done by all ages)
Students will learn how to create their own sediment core similar to those used by geologists, archaeologists and environmentalists. They will use household supplies, and a little bit of scavenging for the right types of soil and rocks, to make a unique sediment core. Students will be introduced to the U.S. Geologic Society website where they can get a detailed map and report of the soil around their home or neighborhood. This activity allows you to study the Earth around you!

Splatter Science – A Physics Activity (Most appropriate for K to grade 5 students but can be done by all ages).
When was the last time you were allowed to make a mess at home? The challenge of this project is "How can you spread paint without even touching it?" In this lesson you can learn how to make a beautiful piece of art, while also learning the forces behind how the art is made!

The Amazing Properties of Water (Appropriate for all ages).
Have you ever wondered how bugs can walk on water? What makes water form a droplet?  Water behaves in many unique and interesting ways. Try out these fun activities to investigate the amazing properties of water. 

The Density of Water (Most appropriate for middle school students but can be done by all ages).
Water is an amazing chemical substance naturally found in all 3 physical states; solid, liquid, and gas. In this investigation we will learn about how the density of the water changes with the states of matter.

The Shapes of Us (Appropriate for all ages).
There are so many kinds of shapes to explore! Taking inspiration from Pablo Picasso's famous painting, Three Musicians, students will solve riddles to create their own abstract people entirely out of geometric shapes!

To the Moon and Back: The Relationship between the Earth and Moon (Most appropriate for grades 2 to 12 students but can be done by all ages).
Do you like space? Here is an activity that will let you create your own model of the Earth and Moon that you can decorate, and create moving parts that will show how the Moon orbits around the Earth and how the Earth rotates on its axis.

Where Does the Sun Set? (Most appropriate for middle and high school students but can be done by all ages). Where does it set? In the west, you say. But, does the Sun set in the same place every night? Does the location of the sunset change with changing seasons? Start this activity during Open Lab Week to discover the answers to these questions!

There is no cost to attend Open Lab Night. The event is FREE and open to the public.

The event is takes place in the Dana Mohler-Faria Science and Mathematics Center located at 24 Park Ave. in Bridgewater.

Parking is available in the BSU Parking Garage located at 451 Great Hill Dr. in Bridgewater.

Campus Map

No, guests do not need to arrive at 5 p.m. The event will be held in an open house format.

Our staff can help with any questions you may have. Please contact us at  casebsu@bridgew.edu.