"The WOW program from OSU is just WOW! ... The program is a fabulous way to make science come alive for our students and to support the learning standards for our science curriculum" 

The Wonders of Our World Science Kits are not only for elementary students, it is for educators too! WOW facilitates science outreach, encourages life-long learning through hands-on experiments, and enhances curriculum. From generating creative thoughts to building communication and critical thinking skills, WOW has helped and will continue to help teachers develop these abilities in their students.

On the last day of our BuckeyeFunder and on Giving Tuesday, we would like to give thanks to our 12 donors for making this campaign possible! From this financial support, we will now be able to create numerous, quality kits for Columbus City elementary school students and teachers! Thank you!! 

During this past fall semester, in an effort to continue to deliver exciting and engaging science fun to students, we have transitioned to a virtual programming format. We have introduced new components to our WOW programs, including WOW at Home and virtual WOW programming. 

WOW at Home

The WOW at Home program was created to give students access to fun science experiments to keep them engaged at home. These hands-on experiments are for all ages and use materials commonly found around the house. 

This semester, we had two teams, six OSU students total, work together on designing new experiments or altering existing WOW experiments for this program. Two students were tasked with one unique experiment topic each week to format and then post it on Wednesday to our website and social media accounts. By the end of the semester, these teams will have created 10 WOW at Home activities. To learn more about WOW at Home program and get a glimpse at the experiments, please visit our website at WOW at Home | Wonders of our World. 

Virtual WOW Programming 

Four teams made up of four OSU students each have been working with the WOW Programs Coordinator to develop virtual WOW science units for our Columbus City elementary schools.

Meet OSU student representatives from the Experiment Write Up Team (Brianna Agomessou), Script Writing Team (Nikki Mehalic), Video Production Team (Jules Christensen), and Video Editing Team (Deborah Lee) in the video below. Here they discuss what they and their teammates have been doing each week create virtual WOW programming content. We created two units with seven experiments in total for this semester.

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Thank you to all the OSU students who have worked tirelessly to make WOW at Home and virtual WOW programming possible! No matter if we are in a pandemic or not, we will always strive to create fun, hands-on science experiments for the future scientists of tomorrow to enjoy! 

The WOW program benefits not only elementary school students but also The Ohio State University students as well! The WOW program is made possible with the help from over 70 OSU undergraduate students.

The majority of WOW Scholars who participate in our program are Choose Ohio First (COF) Scholarship recipients of the Ohio House of Science and Engineering. These COF Scholars take part in WOW to complete their 30-45 hours of service outreach per semester. 

In addition, the WOW program also is a service outreach option for the Honors & Scholars STEM Exploration and Engagement (STEM EE) Scholars Program. STEM EE scholars complete 8 hours per semester of service outreach with WOW.   

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"[The WOW program] has been an amazing opportunity to encourage students and help them understand the phenomenal world of science!" ~ Leah Dunston 

Meet WOW Team Leader alumna, Leah Dunston, and learn more about her experience with our program in the video link below. Leah has worked with the WOW program since her freshman year as a STEM EE scholar and then after, she volunteered for three more years. Leah graduated OSU this past spring. She is currently pursuing her veterinary degree at the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine. 

Hello WOW supporters! We have officially relaunched our BuckeyeFunder campaign which will run until December 1st. 

We are happy to announce that we have already surpassed our campaign goal within the first day of relaunch! Thank you to our 10 generous donors for making this possible!  Even though we have reached our goal, we would love to raise as much money as possible -- the more funds we raise, the more kits we can create! When initially pricing out supplies for these science kits, we realized that we need to raise money beyond our goal to adequately develop numerous, quality kits for our schools. 

Because today is Halloween, we have a special experiment video feature focused on two WOW experiments with a Halloween twist. Join Jessica, WOW Programs Coordinator, and Allison, WOW Volunteer, as they talk about the magnet ghost and magnet maze activities. The supplies you will need are cotton balls, paper clips, magnets, marker, plastic container, and paper plates to work on these activities. Hope you enjoy our video!

Stay tuned for more updates about our program and how we are adapting and adding virtual opportunities to spread the joy of science to all! 

For closed captions on this experiment video, check out https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3542551409146587

Due to recent events with the spread of COVID-19 here in Ohio and nationwide, we have regretfully decided to postpone our Buckeye Funder campaign until October 2020.  To our generous donors, know that no matter what, your gifts will be going towards science kits for kids. Thank you for your generosity! We hope to expand upon these donations in the fall to fully construct these kits for our schools.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our WOW at Home activities. Each Wednesday an additional at home experiment is added to our social media platforms and on our website too. Let us know if WOW can help to spread the joy of science remotely - we are here to help!  

Please stay in touch for future updates to come about our project.  Thank you for your support and consideration - we will see you again soon! Please stay healthy and safe during these trying times! 

Thank you to the six people who donated to our campaign! We are off to a great start to help to fund these science kits! 

Because we have 6 donations so far, here are 6 facts about the WOW program: 

1) The WOW program has been impacting and getting elementary school students excited about science since 1999. We are celebrating our 21st year in the community! 

2) The WOW program works with 3 Columbus City elementary schools at a time, adopting each school for 3 years.

3) The majority of the WOW scholars who participate in and make our programs possible are Choose Ohio First (COF) scholarship recipients of the Ohio House of Science and Engineering majoring in a variety of science and engineering majors at OSU. 

4) The WOW program is a service outreach option for the Honors & Scholars STEM Exploration and Engagement scholars program. 

5) In addition to the numerous science and engineering students from The Ohio State University, the WOW Program has affiliates with local science organizations, Battelle and Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). These partners help to volunteer in the classrooms and make it so elementary school students are able to talk with and learn from a local scientist or engineer. 

6) The WOW program has up to 15 units that focus on a variety of science topics. Each unit has 5-10 hands-on experiments focused on the unit topic. With our campaign, we hope to create science supply kits with materials from these unit experiments so that our graduated schools can replicate WOW programs for years to come. 

Thank you for your continued support to help us build these kits for the future scientists of tomorrow!