Sunny Discovery Day at AT&T Park Caps Off 6th Annual Bay Area Science Festival
Thousands of children, teens and parents visited AT&T Park on Nov. 5 for the Bay Area Science Festival’s 6th annual Discovery Day, which provided more than 150 hands-on science exhibits, games, experiments and shows.
Discovery Day was the finale of the 10-day-long festival, which offered lectures, debates, exhibitions, concerts, plays, workshops and other activities throughout the Bay Area that are focused on science and technology.
For the sixth year, Discovery Day packed AT&T Park’s field and other levels with hands-on activities that gave children and adults the opportunity to meet local scientists and engineers and explore the role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“UCSF is the proud host of this amazing celebration through Science and Health Education Partnership,” Joe DeRisi, PhD, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UC San Francisco, said in a welcome message for the event. “For over 30 years this has served as a model to bring both scientists, engineers and educators together to improve K-12 education throughout the Bay Area.
The UCSF exhibits this year included opportunities for visitors to join scientists and doctors to learn about the inner works of the eye and brain, touch a human heart, see how to stabilize a spine fracture, see how vein illuminator shows the inside of a body, and learn the difference between medicine and candy based on its appearance.
The theme of this year’s Bay Area Science Festival was “Unleash Your Inner Scientist.”
UCSF is the organizer of the festival, which is produced by the Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP) at UCSF and a core group of science institutions. The festival is hosted by Bay Area universities, museums, cultural institutions, corporations and government agencies.
SEP is a partnership between UCSF and the San Francisco Unified School District that supports high quality science education for K-12 students. The program offerings include bringing UCSF volunteers into K-12 classrooms, learning experiences for teachers, and a high school internship program that pairs students from backgrounds underrepresented in the sciences with mentors and immerses them in a university environment conducting scientific research.
For more campus news and resources, visit Pulse of UCSF.
Cindy Flores (center), a residency coordinator for the UCSF's Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, helps Charlotte Aalsma (right) identify anatomy during the 6th annual Discovery Day at AT&T Park on Saturday, Nov. 5. Photo by Noah Berger
Hampton Yeh (left), 7, and Harrington Yeh (center), 5, use a prosthetic arm during the 6th annual Discovery Day at AT&T Park with the help of Matthew Chen, a resident in Orthotics & Prosthetics at UCSF's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Photo by Noah Berger
Visiting graduate student Ye Yang (left) discusses reproductive anatomy with (from left) Jennifer Ruiz, Rony Ruiz, 8, and Jonathan Cardoza, 8 during the 6th annual Discovery Day at AT&T Park. Photo by Noah Berger
Addison Stine (right) and Layla Peters learn about organs during the 6th annual Discovery Day at AT&T Park. Photo by Noah Berger
The Bay Area Science Festival's Discovery Day at AT&T Park gives children the chance to do hands-on science, including touching a human brain. Photo by Noah Berger
The Discovery Days at AT&T Park gives attendees a chance to both learn about science and do hands-on experiments and activities. Photo by Noah Berger
Emmy Mann, 8, uses a magnifying glass to examine a slide during the 6th annual Discovery Day at AT&T Park on Saturday. Photo by Noah Berger
UCSF Assistant Professor Joe Qi (left), PhD, helps Carlos Mejia, 9, examine chromosomes through a microscope the Discovery Day event at AT&T Park. Photo by Noah Berger
Rachel Gomez (left), 5, learns about reproductive anatomy from visiting UCSF graduate student Ye Yang during the 6th annual Discovery Day at AT&T Park. Photo by Noah Berger
Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Day attendees walk around the field at AT&T Park to visit the exhibits and hands-on science experiments. Photo by Noah Berger