The UMN Southwest Research & Outreach Center (SWROC) near Lamberton hosted over 40 local 1st through 5th graders Tuesday, July 30 and Wednesday, July 31 for the Bell Museum Summer Camp program. The camp immersed students in science and nature with hands-on investigation, games, creative projects, and guided outdoor exploration.
Camp activities connected students to research programs at the SWROC including cropping systems, integrated pest management, nutrient management, and soil & agricultural water management. In many cases, students engaged with the same topics that local farmers and ag professionals learn about at field days and other outreach events.
Campers learned about corn pests and diseases and how to identify problems in fields. SWROC staff spoke about other threats to crops like stormy weather before using a specially-designed ‘hail machine’ to simulate a hail storm so students could see first-hand what hail does to crops.
Campers explored SWROC’s high tunnels to understand more about typical garden vegetables they can grow at home like peppers and tomatoes. Campers could clearly feel the temperature differences inside the tunnels compared to outside, and learned how vegetable growers use these structures to extend their growing season in both the spring and fall.
SWROC has dedicated acreage in prairie grasslands where campers learned about the plants and critters found in prairies and used sweep nets to catch bugs to look at under a magnifying glass. They also learned about prairie root systems and soil while SWROC staff demonstrated a soil probe machine which took a deep soil core.
All of these activities are unique to the SWROC based on their research and landscape, but campers also participated in regular Bell Camp programming that taught them about plant photosynthesis, carbon exchange, and pond life. For campers, catching pond critters from the bins of pond water to look at under microscopes was a huge hit. They were very excited to show their fellow campers and staff the different “zoomies” they caught and a small competition to catch the most pond critters was started.
The Bell Museum is Minnesota’s official natural history museum and planetarium and has hosted its Summer Camp program at three Research & Outreach Centers across Minnesota this summer. By partnering with UMN Research & Outreach Centers (ROCs), the Bell Museum is able to provide varied camps based on location and the research conducted at that particular ROC.
Overall, the Bell Summer Camps at SWROC were a huge success and Bell Camp staff are excited to plan for next year’s camps over the winter. If you are interested in these camps for next summer, you’ll want to follow the SWROC on Facebook and watch their website for updates.