Science 2024
Chairperson: Jerry Dievendorf
Get ready for an unforgettable summer adventure.
Register for Heldeberg Workshop’s Summer Programs today!
S01 Bugs and Slugs … Advanced!
Weeks: 4, 5 Grades: 3 – 6
Bugs are everywhere! Want to learn the major insect groups and how they differ from spiders and other small creatures? We will use scientific methods to discover things about them using simple experiments, microscopic observation, and creation of an insect zoo.
Instructor: Jerry Dievendorf
S02 Science Fun
Weeks: 1, 2 Grades: 2 & 3
Do you know why certain animals live where they do? Explore the forest with us, probe the pond and swamp, examine evidence of deer activity and learn how to find salamanders, snakes, frogs and insects. Recognize animals from their tracks. We’ll conduct chemical tests of water and berries to make deductions about what certain animals eat and where they live. We will also examine stream beds to find fossils of ancient life, and we’ll try to guess what our environment might have been like in those earlier times. Come and have fun with us!!
Instructor: Jennifer Hess
S04 Early Birders
Week: 1 Grades: 3 – 7
Join us on an adventure through the Heldeberg fields and forests to learn about our amazing and elusive feathered friends! We will walk through streams, hike to the swamp and climb around boulders to see what birds we can hear and see, while we try to understand why we find them in these special places. We will have plenty of hands-on activities and play games to explore and learn about bird songs, nest building, bird behavior and more!
Instructor: Ruth Brooks
S06 Rocks & Fossils
Weeks: 1, 2, 4, 6 Grades: 4 & up
Dig into the world of rocks, minerals and fossils. Learn about earthquakes, glaciers, volcanoes and much more! We go on hikes to various fossil-collecting sites, create model volcanoes, and learn to navigate the woods 7with ease (an essential life skill!) using a map and compass. We’ll complete the week with a “treasure” hunt!
Instructor: George Pafumi
S08 Wee Beasties
Week: 6 Grades: 4 – 6
Explore the hidden microscopic universe of Heldeberg Workshop. Through the use of microscopes, we will learn just how different things look under powerful magnification. There are thousands of different forms of microbial life in the wilderness. We will search the entire Workshop for as many of these “wee beasties” as we can find. We will figure out how to protect ourselves from bad microbes that can harm us. And we will experiment with other microbes to do fun things, like make yeast bread. We will also learn how microscopes can help us solve crimes and study molecules like DNA.
Instructor: Dan Chaize
S09 Fossil Hunting
Weeks:3 & 5 Grades: 3 & 4
Find the remains of organisms that lived here hundreds of millions of years ago! Learn about the prehistoric environment that these creatures lived in. Discover how to search for fossils in an area known for its geologic richness. Get your hands dirty identifying fossils such as trilobites, bryozoans, ancient corals, and many, many others, as we talk about their significance.
Instructor: George Pafumi
S10 Junior Naturalist I
Week: 1 Grades 3 – 6
Learn all about the trees and wildflowers native to New York State and discover many on our walks. Learn to identify them and preserve them as records of your findings. You will take field notes, make small paintings, learn to mix color in depth and make some block prints. We will also explore geometry through the examples in nature. At the end of the course you will have a nice collection of artworks and notes.
Instructor: Dagmar Frinta
S11 Junior Naturalist II
Weeks: 5-6 (2 week course) Grades: 3 – 6
This course is an expanded version of the Junior Naturalist one week course. We will learn about and identify native plants and trees, taking field notes and making small paintings and block prints. We will learn to mix colors in depth, learn to make detailed drawings and symbols, learn about facts of the forest and geometry by making clay models and folded paper studies. At the end of the course you will have an array of scientific, artistic documents to remind you of what you learned on your walks and in the classroom.
Instructor: Dagmar Frinta