Elbert the Alligator Makes A Snappy Surprise at BEF Trivia Night March 7, 2019
Posted by Sean Musselman in Burlington Community, Science Center.Tags: animals, BEF, news
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Burlington Science Center employees and supporters, past and present were on hand at the Burlington Education Foundation’s annual BEF Trivia Night. Participating as team “Reality Bites” Miss Pavlicek and Mr. Musselman brought along Elbert the Alligator to partake in the evening’s festivities. Elbert made his presence felt at all of the team’s competitor tables, including the School Committee’s!
The BEF regularly supports the Science Center’s endeavour to bring “Science to Life” by seeding our programming great and small, including the Science Center starlab, infrared camera, and chick hatching incubator equipment. Miss P and Mr. Musselman thank the BEF for their continued support and a wonderful night out with the Burlington philanthropic community!
BHS HelpDesk and Science Center partner to build “Augmented Reality Sandbox” December 9, 2016
Posted by Sean Musselman in Science Center, Student Work.Tags: BEF, earth science, programming, technology, video
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Students, Eddie Reis and Jinzhen “Hugo” Hu have been furiously working to bring a Science Center BEF grant vision to reality. As the holidays approach we checked in with these students to see how far they had come with the future Science Center crown jewel, the Augmented Reality Sandbox!
As you can see, the kinks are still being worked out and the entire project is not yet mobile, but we are confident this project will come to full fruition in the coming months as the technical and structural glitches get worked out. Eddie and Hugo also plan to add in the watershed and precipitation features to the software. The AR Sandbox will be on display and available for students to explore during the Hour of Code week scheduled for the week of December 12th.
Girl Scouts Perform Energy Audit at Francis Wyman February 9, 2016
Posted by Sean Musselman in Burlington Community.Tags: BEF, energy, Francis Wyman, Girl Scouts, heat, investigation
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Girl scouts from Troop 88060 performed an energy audit of the Francis Wyman Elementary School on their way to earning their “Investigate Award.” To help them find points of heat (and therefore energy) loss the scouts commandeered the Science Center’s infrared camera and explored their classrooms using its dual visible-infrared camera interface to identify points of energy waste.
The scouts were surprised to see that not only did their exterior walls and windows lose heat, but their electronic devices left idle were using lots of energy too! The experience gave all the scouts appreciation for turning off electronic devices along with the lights at the end of the school day.
The Science Center applauds these scouts on their way toward informing their community about ways to save energy while becoming better energy consumers themselves. We also thank Mrs. Schultz at the Francis Wyman School for volunteering as their fearless parent leader! The use of the IR camera was made possible through the Burlington Education Foundation and benefits all Burlington classrooms and organizations interested in using the tool. Please contact the Science Center to learn more!
Support the BEF at “Exercise for Education” this weekend! May 26, 2015
Posted by Sean Musselman in Burlington Community.Tags: BEF
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On Sunday, May 31, 2025, the Burlington Education Foundation (BEF) is holding their 11th Annual “Exercise for Education” 5K Road Race and ½ Mile Family Fun Run at Burlington High School . Check-in for the event begins at 8:00am with the Family Fun Run beginning at 9:00am, followed by the start of the 5k which begins promptly at 9:30am.
Please visit BEF’s website for more information on the activities as well as online registration. All pre-registered participants are guaranteed a free t-shirt. NEW This Year – Chip Timing! – with instant results.
Run, Walk, Volunteer or join us as a spectator! Don’t miss out on this great community event or the chance to win a Grand Prize Raffle!!
BEF’s Mission is to channel donations from businesses and individuals to provide Burlington educators with an additional source of funding for creative and innovative curriculum enrichment programs. The BEF has supported the Science Center in many ways over the years, funding our StarLab, Burlington Weather Station, and recently received Infrared Camera!
Science Center Receives Infrared Camera Tool Thanks to BEF April 2, 2015
Posted by Sean Musselman in Burlington Community, Science Center.Tags: BEF, energy, heat
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Yesterday the Science Center received in the mail its very own infrared camera! An infrared camera is designed to collect infrared, or “heat” energy as opposed to light energy most cameras collect through their lens! The FLIR One camera attaches to the back of any iPhone 5 or 5S and can be wirelessly broadcast to screens and projectors with the help of an Apple TV device. All of these tools were made possible with the help of a grant from the Burlington Education Foundation.
As the grant writer, Mr. Musselman has been busying “play-testing” the tool to determine its full capabilities and potential for classroom demonstrations and instructional videos across the K-12 curriculum. The camera comes with photo and video capabilities. Check out the pictures below to see just how versatile the camera is and how it may potentially be used in our classrooms moving forward. If you have a suggestion, or a question you’d like to have explored by the Science Center and its new camera, please let us know in the comments section below or on our facebook page and infrared camera post!
How much cold soda is in this paper cup?
Our IR camera knows! Dark colors = cold temperatures!
Where is the hedgehog hiding?
Her body heat radiates right through her plastic home!
Why is the turtle so tough to spot in infrared?
Turtles are cold-blooded! That means they have the same temperature as their environment. No wonder turtles love to sit out in the sun!
What happens to our hand temperature when we hold on to ice cubes?
Our hand and ice cubes in infrared.
Grabbing the ice cubes…
Holding on tight for 30 seconds. This hurts!
Why are my hands purple?
What happens if I put my hand down on the table?
Now the table surface is cooler too!
This video was a first take with our new camera. I realized later the camera can be oriented in landscape so the temperature can be read more easily and the color spectrum can be “locked” so that the temperatures do not appear to keep recalibrating to use the whole spectrum. You can also change the color scheme from “iron” to “lava” to just about everything in between.
The Science Center can’t thank the Burlington Education Foundation enough for their continued support. Last year they purchased a wonderful new Weather Station and they continue to encourage us to submit proposals in the future. The BEF is a wonderful resource for the Burlington teachers and schools and we encourage all community members to continue their support of this great organization!
The Burlington Science Center 