The Bruce Museum Seaside Center at Greenwich Point Park will wrap up its summer season on Labor Day weekend with “Hands-On Science,” a program featuring Citizen Science programs and educational activities for all ages. The event is open to the public and takes place on Sunday, Sept. 6, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at the Innis Arden Cottage.
Tim Walsh, Bruce Museum Manager of Natural History Collections and Citizen Science, will discuss three recent Citizen Science initiatives in need of volunteers. No experience or scientific expertise is required. For Cat Tracker, the Museum is seeking the owners of outdoor cats to temporarily follow their cat’s travels using GPS technology. For those who enjoy the outdoors or a walk by a local pond, the Connecticut Turtle Atlas needs observers to collect data on the location of turtles that are seen throughout the state. The School of Ants project takes less than an hour, and participants will collect data to help researchers identify and map distributions of ant species, which could help monitor the spread of invasive species and track the effects of climate change across the United States.
The event at the Seaside Center will also offer easy experiments demonstrating some of the properties of water throughout the afternoon and will include a shoreline seining demonstration at 2:30 p.m. exploring life in Long Island Sound. The program is part of the Fred Elser First Sunday Science @ Seaside Center Series, which is held year round on the first Sunday of each month. Visitors may request complimentary access to the Park to attend the series by contacting Seaside Center Manager Cynthia Ehlinger cynthiae@brucemuseum.org.
The Bruce Museum Seaside Center will also be open to the public on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors must have a Greenwich beach pass to enter the Point on Monday. To contact the Seaside Center, call 203-637-3515 or email seasidecenter@brucemuseum.org.
