NSF STEM Day, held on May 10, 2025, brought together BSCS Science Learning educators and its museum partners from the NISE Network, Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco, Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC, and the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California to facilitate Making Waves with Radio activities in Downey, California. Hands-on science activities enabled families to explore the science of radio signals and radio-enabled technologies, from drones and Wi-Fi detectors to a visual timeline of key radio technology inventions.
Leveraging the Columbia Memorial Space Center’s outreach network, several local community groups participated in the event. These included two amateur radio clubs from Long Beach and Downey, which helped the public send and receive radio signals with the historic ship Queen Mary, as well as a remote-controlled car club and a drone club. Activity tables, clearly labeled with NSF attribution, featured interactive experiences such as iSpy Radio, You Decide, WiFi Detectives, and Radio Silence. Event signage with a QR code provided access to the Whispers in the Wind app.
In the crafts area, families participated in hands-on activities like Make a Lighthouse and Space Souvenir (creating a medallion for a space mission). Using pre-cut cardboard components from KitCo Design, visitors also collaborated to build a model of a future “Wavetown,” imagining how their communities might use radio communication systems in the future. A large screen centrally located on the museum floor featured our “What is Radio?” video.
For this 75th event, a colorful visual Radio Technology Timeline was produced for a display at the science center. The content was authored by the project team and vetted by external advisors. This long poster featured key moments in NSF’s history where investments and innovations were made related to radio communications, satellites, and wireless mobile technologies from 1950 to 2025. The timeline was one of the first project-produced resources visible to the public as they entered the science center for the 75th anniversary event. Based on visitor entry into the Columbia Memorial Science Center, it is estimated that over 350 attended the event. (Outdoor audiences and visitors were not tabulated.)
Learn More
- About the Making Waves with Radio kit https://www.nisenet.org/making-waves-radio-kit
- About the Project https://www.nisenet.org/radio
Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DRL 2053160. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Science Foundation.