In October, the Battles Lab participated in the 2nd Annual STEMposium as a part of the Youth Speaks Inc Life is Living Festival in West Oakland, CA. The purpose of the event was to engage the community at large, with an emphasis on youth, in discussions about how science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) impacts their community and can be used to make changes in their community.
The event engaged and encouraged youth in STEM research through hands on activities and career exploration, with a special emphasis in areas such as environmental science, urban gardening and agriculture, transportation and urban design.
Our exhibit showcased a career as a forest ecologist, with examples of the types of questions we try to answer about the environment. We demonstrated how dendrochronology can be used as a tool to answer environmental questions ranging from climate change, historical disturbances (fire, land slides, hurricanes), to effects of air pollution on forest health. Both kids and adults were fascinated with tree rings and how trees grow, particularly when they got to practice coring a real tree trunk and looking at tree cores under the microscope! We also interacted with educators from local schools, sparking discussion and ideas for classroom activities. Click to learn more about the Life is Living Festival, and the STEMposium.