Citizen Science Show

How Newcastle Library and Museum is Turning Preschoolers into Citizen Scientists with Karen Eastwood | #203

Citizen Science Show

Show Notes

Recorded live in the Citizen Science Show podcast booth at the Hunter Science Festival, Dani sits down with Karen Eastwood, Program Delivery Officer for Newcastle Museum and Library, to talk about the library's new Little Bang Discovery Club, a hands on program turning preschoolers into "little scientists" (and their parents into "lab assistants").

Karen shares what's inside the program's take home discovery box, how the four week journey builds to a mini science fair, and how Newcastle Museum and Library is reshaping what a library can be, from a citizen science corner to borrowable fossil kits and a chill out zone stocked with genuine dinosaur poo.

More Information https://newcastlelibraries.com.au/

About the Hunter Science Festival 2026 https://newcastlemuseum.com.au/what-s-on/current-events/national-science-week-hunter-science-festival https://www.hish.org.au/

If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.

It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.

Contact the Show We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events. You can email us at: [email protected]

Watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@citizenscienceshow

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from Citizen Science Show

Oct 27, 2026

November is about to get a whole lot buggier. Dani talks with Jess Ward-Jones, Citizen Science Coordinator at the Invasive Species Council of Australia, about Bugs in My Backyard Week, a national springtime snapshot of Australia's invertebrates running from 16 to 22 November.

Sep 30, 2026

How does a frog surveyor end up running a wildlife sanctuary in the PNG Highlands, working with gold mines, earning an OBE and then farming redclaw in far north Queensland? Dani sits down with Rod Ingersoll, environmental scientist, conservationist, farmer and author of Crayfish Cashflow: From Gold Mines to Gumboots.

Sep 25, 2026

Where does the water go when it rains, and what happens when we help the landscape hold onto it?

Sep 19, 2026

Recorded live in the Citizen Science Show podcast booth at the Hunter Science Festival, Dani sits down with Nick Whalan-Daniels, Head Teacher for the TAFE NSW Manufacturing Centre of Excellence at Tighes Hill, to talk about a stand packed with augmented reality welding, robotics and renewable energy demonstrations.

Sep 18, 2026

Recorded live in the Citizen Science Show podcast booth at the Hunter Science Festival, Dani sits down with Heather Wightman, biosecurity officer for the Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers, to find out about a gold medal winning Australian invention putting fresh, spin-your-own honey on the kitchen bench, and what's changed for beekeepers since Varroa mite arrived in Australia.

See all episodes →