Today marks the beginning of the 10th annual Wisconsin Science Festival. The four-day festival offers events all around the state of Wisconsin — from Madison to New Berlin, Eau Claire, Kenosha and many more.
The #WiSciFest provides over 100 different events and attracts over 43,000 participants and 1,000 students across the state of Wisconsin. The cost to attend any event is generally either non-existent or a minimal fee to cover materials.
Events this year are available in person throughout the state, though many will only be offered virtually due to the ongoing pandemic.
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This festival is produced by University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the Morgridge Institute for Research and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
WARF’s Director of Programming Laura Heisler works to create science programs for community outreach.
“[We have] amazing talks by fantastic UW-Madison researchers like John Hawks from anthropology and Innocence Project founder Keith Fondley,” Heisler said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
The Wisconsin Science Festival has activities and events for people of all ages, abilities and scientific interests.
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Heisler highlighted another event downtown called Science on the Square taking place this Friday, Oct. 22.
“[We’ll have] One of a kind event downtown with Science on the Square,” Heisler said. “This year the event includes a special edition of the Madison night market with more than 100 vendors and science activities, music, live shows and more.”
Kids can participate in a wide variety of hands-on activities involving numerous scientific disciplines. In Madison, the Wisconsin Science Festival offers four days of archeology camp where participants are able to learn through digging.
Kids can also attend book talks, stargaze, learn about the science of colors and interact with different foods.
For those looking to participate in activities at the UW-Madison campus, the Washburn Observatory is holding an open house on Oct. 21, 22 and 23. Additionally, the Allen Centennial Garden is open to the public with the option to go on a self-guided tour.
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Attendees can speak to astronauts, learn about life in the soil, identify red granite, the state rock or even learn about general scientific subjects like physics at the Leonard R. Ingersoll Physics Museum.
For 10 years, the Wisconsin Science Festival has been a great way to get people involved in science by offering enough events for all people to find one of interest.
Anyone can check out the many events at the #WiSciFest on or near campus from Oct. 21 through Oct. 24 and design their own adventure beforehand at www.wiscifest.org.
