Carbon Environmental Center Installs Science-Themed Tree
Rosalie Clark of Nesquehoning sits reading under CCEEC’s science-themed tree. Clark suggested adding an ornament for her namesake, Rosalie Edge. Edge founded the world’s first sanctuary for birds of prey in the 1930s. Photo provided by Carbon County Conservation District.
This holiday season, the Carbon County Environmental Education Center (operated by full-time staff from the Carbon County Conservation District) invited children of all ages to help decorate a science-themed Christmas tree with ornaments depicting famous scientists, both past and present.
“It was just an idea, and our staff sort of ran with it,” said Susan Gallagher, the center’s Chief Naturalist. “We were talking about how kids should know the stories of all the people who’ve changed the world, and the next thing I knew, our part-time staff were making ornaments out of Petri dishes.”
Each ornament featured a picture of a famous–or not so famous–scientist on one side, with their contribution to scientific discovery written on the other.
The display included a reading area with age-appropriate books about scientists from all over the world and a sign-in sheet where children added their suggestions for more ornaments.