CMSI Summer Science Workshops -- Share your memories of the California Museum of Science & Industry

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 22:47:30 04/26/03 Sat
Author: R.M.
Subject: CMSI Summer Science Workshops

One thing you didn't say much about on the site was the old CMSI's
amazingly advanced, informative Summer Science Workshops for children.
They were two-week summer classes, with classroom and/or laboratory
components. I doubt the current Science Center has anything resembling
those Workshops, these days. In the late Eighties I checked, and found
that even then, they'd all shrunk to one week in length, and the contents
had got mighty thin. Shorter attention spans, I guess. By now, what with
handhelds and instant messaging, the attention spans have probably shrunk
to the vanishing point.

In the summer of 1966 (between 4th and 5th grades), my parents enrolled me
in a summer course in astronomy, which was highly non-flashy and
informative -- for example, it taught the difference between apparent and
absolute magnitudes, and the formula (including a logarithm) for converting
between them. In 1967-1969 I took four more courses, including computers.
(As part of the course, I made a set of Napier's Bones for hand
computation. There was discussion of slide rules, electromechanical
relays, and logic diagrams, and I prepared punch cards by hand for an
emulator called a Cybernac. Heady stuff for a 10-year old in 1968!)
I also took a course in aerodynamics, where we got to construct model
airplanes that incorporated aerodynamic enhancements the kit manufacturers
had never dreamed of. We got to fly them inside the Coliseum.

The Workshops met in the north half of the old Armory Building, the south
half being occupied by the great Aerospace Hall. Some of the classrooms
were on the ground floor, and some were in the building's huge basement.
Only a small part of the basement was in use, and the rest was disused and
(partly) blocked off. During the time I was there, it was easy for us kids
to get into and explore the disused section. A remarkably spooky place,
with many side corridors and rooms! Not all the light switches worked. We
located a spiral staircase leading up to a corridor opening on the
Aerospace Hall, so we were able to move around that building rather
effectively, while staying behind the scenes. No guards never bothered us.
Come to think of it, I had almost as much fun exploring that building,
somewhat illicitly, as I did taking the classes.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Re: CMSI Summer Science Workshops -- A.R., 08:54:49 05/28/04 Fri