About 1,000 people participated in hands-on science activities including panning for gold at ASU’s 11th annual Earth and Space Exploration Day on Saturday.

The event, organized by the School of Earth and Space Exploration, was put on as a way to reach out to the public, said its primary organizer.

Tom Sharp, professor and assistant director for undergraduate studies at the school, said the event is designed to appeal to children.

“We’re trying to excite kids about science and engineering,” he said.

Children are interested in science and nature at a young age, Sharp said, but when they get older it’s difficult for schools to maintain that enthusiasm because of a lack of funds for science activities.

The event helps with ASU’s mission of one University in many places by giving back with a big event for kids who may not be able to experience anything like it at their K-12 schools, Sharp said.

“We need to be informing our community,” he said. “This is our school’s way of reaching out to the public about what kind of science we do.”

Among the organizers were many students and interns sponsored by a NASA-funded Space Grant, Sharp said. Part of the requirement as an intern is to assist in public outreach, he said.

An array of booths was lined up outside the Bateman Physical Sciences Center, including one by ASU’s Daedalus Aeronautics rocketry club that assisted kids in shooting off water-bottle rockets.

Aerospace engineering senior Matt Summers, who helped run the booth, said the club is in the process of conducting more science outreach.

“There’s so much to science and engineering,” he said. “But there’s really a lot of room for creativity.”

Members of Daedalus Aeronautics compete in national rocketry competitions annually, Summers said. The club shared its experiences with event attendees.

Also sharing their experiences were students studying engineering, astrology, geography and astrophysics.

Astrophysics doctoral student Teresa Ashcraft, who worked an astronomy booth at the event, said the School of Earth and Space Exploration aims to educate the public, partly through an astronomy open house.

“It’s good to interact with the kids, especially when you ask a question and they already know the answer,” she said.

Ashcraft and her colleagues set up puzzles for kids to solve. Pictures of star formations were cut into puzzle pieces so participants could learn the shape and location of different stars.

Kip Hodges, director for the School of Earth and Space Exploration, said the event uses activities like children’s puzzles to demonstrate how many different types of science intersect.

“The University doesn’t necessarily do the best job of reaching out to people outside,” he said. Earth and Science Exploration Day was one of the ways the school attempted to break that stigma, he said.

The event was a way for grade-school students to look at science in a different way, Hodges said, adding that there are too few students going into science-related fields.

“So much of 21st century life is about science and technology,” he said. “If we don’t get them when they’re young, we’re not going to.”

Reach the reporter at ndgilber@asu.edu.