Fusion Science Theater has produced two theater models. Here is a description of those two models, with links to evaluation data and example scripts.
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The Amazing Chemical Circus
Children learn to act like a polymer.The Amazing Chemical Circus is a full length theater show featuring three sets of demonstrations as the acts of a circus. Each set is performed by a different science educator and investigates a scientific question. Host characters of Ringmaster and Squirt introduce each question, interact with the audience and interject humor into the show. They also coordinate “Act-It-Out” segments that bring children to the stage to portray electrons, atoms, and molecules. Read more >>
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Science In A Box
Volunteers from the audience portray water molecules.We developed the “Science in a Box” model in response to local science outreach educators who wanted a short, portable show that could be performed in public spaces as well as at schools and museums. The box of mention is simply a refrigerator box on wheels with windows in the front, doors in the back, and a slit in the side. Read more >>
Kids on stage acting out "cross-linking" of the polymer SLIME.
"Molecules, any chemist will tell you, have lots to teach us," begins Terry Devitt in a press release from the University of Wisconsin. "Giving voice to the lessons of molecules and other props of science, as the lamentable state of science literacy in the United States attests, is no easy task," Dewitt writes.
Describing Fusion Science Theater's approach to education, Dewitt writes: "The project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is really about creating a tool, a model program that can be adapted by teachers and others to channel basic concepts of science to young children. The idea, says Holly Walter Kerby, a Madison playwright and an MATC instructor of chemistry and creative writing/drama, is to adapt the techniques of theater - theme, character and dramatic question - to teaching science to young people."
To learn more, go to "Using Street Theater to Channel the Lessons of Molecules."