Bowling for science?

From the Tallahassee Democrat

Alyssa Show stood for a moment - poised and focused.

Then she unleashed a black bowling ball straight ahead and nearly all the pins tumbled down in a flash. The 14-year-old from Crawfordville threw her fists above her head when the thunderous result rang out, followed by cheers from her group.

To someone watching, it looked like a group of girls were having a good time bowling Thursday afternoon at Seminole Bowl on Tennessee Street. In reality, they were conducting experiments that contained four main steps: come up with a question, design an experiment, collect data and come to a conclusion.

It was one of many activities 16 girls entering the eighth and ninth grades have been introduced to during SciGirls summer camp. Since Monday, the all-girls camp has exposed them to experiments conducted by local scientists, the feeding habits of animals at the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Sciences and GPS as a means to conduct research on trees.

The goal of the camp is to turn girls on to science and to help them explore it as a possible career. Several national studies have shown women are underrepresented in science fields.

"The girls are absolutely terrific, and they truly are deeply interested in science," said Pat Dixon, educational programmer for the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, one of the partners in the camp.

By the camp's conclusion July 21, the girls will have taken a tour of the Apalachicola River, conducted a gem-and-fossil dig and learned about sea creatures at the Florida State University Marine Lab - just to name a few activities.

This is all well and good. A summer camp emphasizing science sounds like a good and even fun idea.

There is just one problem with the article, which I only posted part of above. You can follow the link to the rest.

What was the reason for the girls to go bowling and what kind of scientific experiment was being conducted?

Tallahasse Democrat writer TaMaryn Waters never told us. Either she thought the Democrat's readers are all Einsteins or Ms. Waters was just absentminded.

I lean to the later explanation.

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