Movers Badge (2 hour visit) Fee: $6 – minimum 20/maximum 30

Scouts will see a slide presentation about wind energy, from old-time windmills that pumped water and ground grain to modern wind turbines that produce green energy. They will make a pinwheel to test with a high-powered fan and make a paper copter to see how air resistance can turn a propeller.

The scouts will make a ring wing glider and a straw glider to investigate unconventional wing designs. They will make a simple diamond kite and learn how flowing air keeps it in the sky.

Building a canister rocket and launching it with the aid of seltzer tablets will demonstrate how the action/reaction principle moves jets and rockets through the sky and into space!

Water Everywhere Badge (2 hour visit) Fee: $6 – minimum 20/maximum 30

Scouts will learn about the many properties and uses of water. They will begin by making a water snooper. Then they’ll take their water snoopers, strainers, and bowls down the nature trail to our pond. From the observation deck they will look below the surface and scoop up some water samples to see what lives there.

Back in the Outpost the scouts will search the ingredients lists on product containers to see where water can be found. They will do the water layers investigation to learn about fresh and salt water properties.

On our stream table, scouts will explore the wave and ripple properties of water, and they’ll take the cargo floating challenge.

Science In Action Badge (2 hour visit) Fee: $6 – minimum 20/maximum 30

Scouts will be surprised and delighted by the reactions and effects caused by mixing materials and combining light. They will make glop to explore the properties of solids and liquids, mix baking soda and vinegar to see gases at work, and learn how a CO2 fire extinguisher works.

They will use wicking properties to make beautiful and colorful butterflies and enter the pitch black of our observatory to study the effects of mixing colored light. A hunt around the Outpost will reveal materials and devices that make use of technology to make our lives easier.

Space Explorer Badge (overnight visit – 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m.) Fee $40 - minimum 10/maximum 15

In the StarLab planetarium, scouts will learn about constellations and individual stars and how to locate and identify them in the night sky. This will be followed by a star gazing hike on our nature trail, and making constellation pictures. 

Through a power point presentation, scouts will learn about the planets in our solar system and the surface of the moon. They will get to design and construct a model of a lunar rover, see a NASA film to take a simulated “Field Trip to the Moon”, and assemble a planetary puzzle.

Scouts will learn about the history and design of telescopes that enable us to see distant space objects and have a safe view of the sun through our sun spotter devices. They will learn about how women have participated in the US space program and about NASA’s current and future plans for space exploration. To culminate their visit scouts will make their mark on the universe by designing a space science postage stamp.