Students fanned out across campus to take part in activities in several departments in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering and Applied Science.

The third-annual visit was sponsored by UC’s Center for Public Engagement with Science and UC Admissions.

Director Angela Potochnik, head of philosophy at UC, told Fox19 that faculty aimed to give students a fun, positive first impression of campus as the children and their parents prepare to pick a high school.

“We are bringing fifth- and sixth-graders from the Clifton Area Neighborhood School here so they can get a sense for what campus life is like, what activities are available and to make them feel like insiders when they come to UC,” she said.

Fifth graders spent time in the Department of Biological Sciences and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Sixth graders spent time with the Department of Geosciences and UC Classics.

About 14% of UC graduates are first-generation college students. Potochnik said she was a first-generation college grad in her family.

“It’s really interesting to see how my kids feel at home on campus and have a deep sense for the learning and research that takes place here,” she said. “One of my personal motivations in starting this field trip was to make that experience available to kids who might not have a parent who is familiar with a college environment.”

“Coming here is way different than just talking about college in the classroom,” teacher Cody Walter said. “They get to see what higher-ed looks like and people who are super passionate about their fields.”

In biology, Associate Professor Takuya Konishi, an expert on ancient marine mammals, showed students an enormous reproduction of a mosasaur skull.

In geosciences, Associate Professor Dylan Ward used a thin tube of water in a pan full of pebbles and sand to demonstrate how streams and floods affect a floodplain. Students dug their own riverbeds, made little dams to create miniature oxbows and lakes.

Associate Professor Daniel Sturmer showed the students some of the tools geologists use to observe earthquakes. Then students assembled structures made of blocks atop a platform that simulates an earthquake. Soon, the blocks began shaking, rattling and falling over.

UC Professor Emeritus Carlton Brett walked students down a scale timeline of the Earth stretching back 4 billion years, with each epoch marked by toys and stuffed animals of mammals, dinosaurs, Devonian creatures, ancient fish, trilobites and other life.

“Here we come to a big crossroad for animals 66 million years ago. Bang! What happened? Earth got hit by a what? That’s right, an asteroid,” he said.

Potochnik said she would welcome other Cincinnati Public Schools in the annual visit.

“The Center for Public Engagement with Science is an initiative to think broadly about how science, especially science at UC, fits in with public life,” she said.

Watch the Fox19 report.

Featured image at top: Students from the Clifton Area Neighborhood School visited UC to learn more about science, Classics and engineering. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

Beyond the Classroom