The 10th annual Wisconsin Science Festival was held virtually for the first time this past weekend, highlighted by a virtual road trip. Children of all ages could view tours, panels, lessons and so much more virtually, allowing them to travel all over the state without ever leaving their homes.
One of the benefits of a virtual festival is that much of the activities and talks are still online. Here are a few examples from the virtual tour. Just the examples below were viewed by more than 1,300 people during the festival.
“We also engaged about 300 people in our first-ever statewide Bioblitz, which netted more than 1,110 observations of nature across the state,” says Festival Director Laura Heisler. You can learn more about that program.
Planet Trek, a Scale Model of our Solar System
From Monona Terrace heading south along the lakeshore bike path, Planet Trek shows the relative distances and sizes of the solar system objects in a scale model of about 200 million to one. View the virtual tour.
Engineering Graduate Student Panel
Hear from a panel of Biomedical Engineering PhD students at UW–Madison as they answer questions about their decision to study engineering, different career paths within the field, and what they wish they had known as high schoolers beginning their undergraduate degree. Watch the video.
A Tour Through a Modern Cheese Plant: Klondike Cheese Factory
Take a tour of the Klondike Cheese Factory’s Feta Plant and learn how they expanded their empire to make upwards of 120,000 pounds of Feta every day. View the virtual tour.
Now That You’ve Swabbed, What Happens with Your COVID-19 Test?
Follow a COVID-19 test on its journey all the way from your nasal swab to receiving your results. All testing at UW–Madison happens in the Veterinary Diagnostics Lab, making the university one of only 12 to have a specified COVID-19 testing lab. Watch the video.
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Core Repository
Take a tour of the Mount Horeb Research Collection and Education Center with the UW–Madison Geology club to learn more about Wisconsin’s Geological Core Repository. View the virtual tour.