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Project Progress

Each spring, local Madison elementary schools host “Afterschool Science Nights” where students can bring their parents in to the school for a night of science workshops run by local outreach initiatives. This year, Brooke Norsted oversaw students Lisa Lesar (undergraduate) and Liz Perkat-Dennett (graduate) who developed a forty-five minute interactive presentation on astrobiology for elementary school students and their families. The focus of their presentation was on microbes and their role in astrobiology research. Attendees learned about extremophiles, examined halophiles under magnification, and played a matching game (pairing extremophiles with environments). Lisa and Liz delivered this presentation to more than 500 people this spring at ten elementary school science nights.