Volunteering at the Lawrence Hall of Science
This summer, over a span of 6 weeks, I volunteered at the Lawrence Hall of Science at Berkeley, CA. The Hall is a science museum that also acts as a research lab for students at the nearby UC Berkeley. The Hall was founded in 1968 and has garnered the interest of tourists ever since.
There are numerous activities, camps, and experiments for the general public. One such activity is the Ingenuity Lab. This lab is for children to showcase their scientific and creative thinking abilities. Here, children can use their creative abilities to build something that represents them. Each month there is a new theme. For example, in the month of June, the focus was on building machines using hydraulics and in July, it was centered around building experiments to demonstrate kinetic and potential energy. The Ingenuity Lab is where I volunteered at. I collaborated with other volunteers who are high schoolers such as myself and with undergrads at UC Berkeley. Our job was to stimulate children to use their logical reasoning and to think outside the box to build whatever they wanted. My first day was a wonderful experience and many children came to the ingenuity lab to build machines. It was a great start to an exciting volunteering journey.
As a volunteer, you need to be friendly, outgoing, and enjoy working with people. More specifically for the Hall, you have to have an interest in creativity. These are qualities that are important at the Hall as well as the outside world. Once you become a volunteer for the Hall, you represent the Hall wherever you go.
Some of the responsibilities of an Ingenuity Lab Volunteer are:
- Being outgoing and comfortable working with a variety of people, various age groups and diverse environments
- Showing an interest in creativity, DIY art or science projects and/or making things
- Showing enthusiasm for facilitating engineering/tinkering activities and learning new things
- Ability to interact effectively with children, adults, teen interns and staff
- Demonstrating creativity, enthusiasm, problem-solving skills and flexibility
- Demonstrating interest in education, teaching, early childhood development and/or science
- Following up on sign up, communication and check in process with Ingenuity staff
- Assisting Ingenuity staff with room set up, activity preparation, and clean up
- Assist in facilitation of engineering and tinkering activities for visitors of all ages
- Representing the program in a positive manner via attitude, communication and enthusiasm
It is fascinating to see how the children interact with the machines in unique ways. Some children need guidance from the volunteers or their parents, whereas others are full of creative ideas. It is rather overwhelming to see interesting ways to experiment with the equipment in the lab. During the hydraulics month, kids came up with the most innovative ideas.
There are many more activities at the Hall other that the Ingenuity Lab. The Hall has an animal discovery room, a planetarium, a 3D theater, an fossil exhibit, the Design Quest area, and much more. Each caters to visitors of all ages and teaches scientific ideas or concepts.
The Lawrence Hall of Science gave me an experience that has certainly boosted my self confidence and was an excellent opportunity for my personal growth including social skills, learning to listen, increased empathy, respect, and overall development of emotional intelligence. It is a mutual learning experience and I personally enjoyed learning from the learners. I would recommend this program to anyone who is interested.
