University of Cincinnati

09/30/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/30/2025 10:30

UC celebrates science with schoolchildren

UC celebrates science with schoolchildren

Center for Public Engagement with Science hosts Science Day for fifth-graders

By Michael Miller Email MichaelEmail Michael 513-556-6757
3 minute read September 30, 2025 Share on facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit Print StoryLike

The University of Cincinnati hosted fifth graders from the local School for Creative and Performing Arts for the university's Science Day.

Faculty and UC students in geosciences, biology and other departments in UC's College of Arts and Sciences led students in activities about animals, senses and other topics.

Professor Joshua Gross, who studies animals such as blind cavefish in his lab, led students in an exercise that demonstrated how the sense of taste is tied closely to smell.

Students chewed on a fruit called a miracle berry that affects the taste buds and found that it made sour foods like lemons taste sweet.

Students participated in some exercises in the newly renovated Old Chemistry building, which reopened this month after $190 million in renovations.

Fifth-graders from Cincinnati's School for the Creative and Performing Arts visited UC's Uptown Campus to learn more about science. Photo/Michael Miller

And in the Geology-Physics Building, students got to explore the Geosciences Museum, which features exhibits on dinosaur fossils and geology. Visitors are greeted at the entrance by a sculpture of a woolly mammoth.

Geosciences Professor Carlton Brett gave the students a tour of the museum, holding up fossils of starfish and the tracks of ancient dinosaurs left in the mud. And under the fossilized skeleton of a giant mosasaur hanging from the ceiling, he led students on a walk through the Earth's timeline from the Ordovician period through today using examples of its notable animals.

The fossilized skull of a prehistoric fish called Dunkleosteus is on display in UC's Geosciences Museum. This fish had a powerful crushing mouth like a snapping turtle's. Photo/Michael Miller

The students ate lunch with the UC Bearcat mascot, the reigning national champion in this year's College Cheerleading and Dance National Championship.

The visit also gives students an introduction to the college campus. One in four students at UC is the first in his or her family to attend college. Center Director Angela Potochnik, head of philosophy at UC, said organizers wanted the children to feel like college insiders if they decide to attend UC after high school.

"These field trips illustrate how the UC Center for Public Engagement with Science creates programming that different units and colleges can contribute to, thereby maximizing UC's collective impact," she said.

The field trip was sponsored by the center and UC's College of Arts and Sciences.

Featured image at top: Fifth-grader Aubrey Hightower and her grandmother, Tara, look at exhibits at UC's Geosciences Museum during a field trip to hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Center for Public Engagement with Science. Photo/Michael Miller

A dinosaur called Diplodocus graces a display in UC's Geosciences Museum in the Geo-Phys Building. Photo/Michael Miller

Tags

  • Impact
  • College bound
  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • Student Experience
  • Department of Geosciences
  • Center for Public Engagement in Science
  • CPS Strong
  • Urban Impact
  • Next Lives Here
  • Department of Biological Sciences

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