From August 12 – 16th, the Onna Village / OIST Children’s School of Science (OOCSS) took place at the Fureai Taiken Center in Onna Village, where OIST is situated. Now in its fourth year, the OOCSS offers children from Onna Village and nearby cities an opportunity to experience hands-on activities in various fields of science. The program originally started with 40 students, and has become so popular through the past 4 years that 112 enthusiastic students were registered in the program this time. New for this year were the preschool and junior high school classes.
The students were enrolled in one of 5 classes, each with a different theme. Volunteer OIST researchers taught in cooperation with local elementary and junior high school teachers.
The courses were: Organisms Around Us, Terrestrial Organisms and Nature in Okinawa, Let’s Experiment with Veggies and Fruit!, Brain and Robots, and The Mysterious Physics Laboratory.
These classes were loaded with fun activities like bug catching, experimenting with DNA, programming their own robots, and taking an introductory lecture on quantum mechanics.
The program was a huge success, highly enjoyable for both students and teachers alike. Mr. Ken Kinjo, who taught the Brain and Robots Class said, “One week is a short time frame, but I wanted the students to learn how fun it can be to think by themselves to make something of their own. It meant a lot to all the instructors that some students got that.” Mr. Tomohiko Teruya of the OOCSS Office also commented, “Not only is this a school of science, but it is beginning to become a more international program with more teachers teaching in English. I’d like to thank the Onna Village Office, OIST staff, and parents for their support.”
