Science is a funny thing. All through school I was taught that science was something to be challenged, tested, and questioned. Maybe that’s why I always seemed to be drawn to the sciences whether it was chemistry, physics, or biology. Today, some want to make science an absolute and beyond being questioned. I’m sure they have their reasons and sometimes it would be easier to just go with the flow and accept it as presented; but when it comes down to it, that’s not me.

The thing about science is that you’re never too young or too old to participate. This Saturday, June 3, the Zoo will be celebrating Party for the Planet from 10 a.m. to noon. This year’s event is focused on birding and is designed to engage young people in activity. The morning’s activities will include a presentation on birds and birding by the zoo’s Education Coordinator. There will be a craft where kids can build their own bird feeders to take home for their neighborhood birds. The first 60 children will receive a ND Birding Guidebook to keep as they head out into Roosevelt Park to start looking for birds. The children will be outfitted with binoculars to search the skies and treetops, spotting their feathered prey to identify what types of birds call the park their home. It’s programs like this that can spur interest in science as it becomes a participatory activity.

Citizen Science has been around for several years. It amounts to volunteer monitoring and reporting your findings to the appropriate agency or organization. It is scientific research that’s conducted with participation from the public, whether professional or amateur. For birders there are several opportunities each year to add to various bird counts throughout the United States and websites to include their data with that of other citizen scientists to provide researchers with information to monitor populations.

Another program the zoo participates in is the FrogWatch Program. Zoos and aquariums across the country send staff to be trained so they can train others in their community to go out at certain times to listen for frog calls and report the types of frogs and locations into an online database.

There are many ways to participate in science from your own backyard. Individuals can set up weather stations that can be connected to the internet to provide real-time local weather data. Monarch butterflies are tagged, and various bird species are banded. If you come across an animal such as these in field or while hunting, the bands and tags have information for you to share the fact that animal was found, along with when and where. It all may seem trivial, but every little piece of data collected, when added to thousands of others’ data, trends start coming into focus.

While I may get frustrated with the politics of science today, I will never forget the lessons I learned early in life and will continue to ask questions. Perhaps it will be the Party for the Planet event that spurs a passion in your young ones for science and desire to know more. Day-in, day-out, the zoo is still the perfect campus for learning while having fun.