Dr. Quinton Quark

I'm gonna be featured at the Cambridge Science Festival this weekend; if you're near MIT, swing by! It's free and open to the public:

Much Work with Little Effort @ 1PM It’s the all-time favorite elementary school assembly where kids learn that with physics they can do anything! Hoisting 200 pounds (like their principal or the portly […]

Dr. Quinton Quark Presents... Much Work with Little Effort! will be featured at the Cambridge Science Festival at MIT on Sunday, October 9, 2022. Free and open to the public - catch my shows at 1:00 and 3:00!

Look what folks have to say about Slapstick Science-

This week I'm off to the Comprehensive Grammar School in Massachusetts. Fun with levers and pulleys - Yippee!

Listen up Westchester/CT peeps, and all those within shouting distance who love science... or who are curious exactly WHAT I do for a living-

There's a very unusual opportunity to see two DIFFERENT Slapstick Science shows this weekend. It's also an unusual event because I'll be in a venue that's NOT a school, i.e. it's going to be open to the public!

I'm booked for my most popular show - the Notion of Motion show (the one with the fire extinguisher and the rollerblades) at the Ridgefield Parks and Recreation Center in Ridgefield CT. this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. That show will run until about 11:00 a.m. While all the hard-core science fans are out hurrying through lunch, I'll be resetting with my other show...

I'll be presenting MY favorite show - Much Work with Little Effort (the one with the teeterboard and the 7-to-1 pulley) at 12:30 in the same space! That show will start at 12:30, and it will probably go until 1:45 (shorter if the audience is mostly younger than 2nd grade... but we'll see).

That's right.... for the first time since 1998, and only the second time EVER you can check out the most thrilling science shows this side of Shrodinger's cat in one family fun-filled day.

I hope to see you!

Wow. Wednesday was the first day back to school since Sandy in Norwalk, CT. I got a call Tuesday night that because the Nor'easter was coming in, I'd only be able to do one show the next day. I offered to rebook at a later date, but they wanted it on Wednesday anyhow. I got there, and early dismissal had NOT been called yet. Mrs. Ellis, the principal, asked what I thought. I advised her, since Early Dismissal might not happen, to go with our original plan - 3 -5th grades in the morning, and K - 2 after lunch (from 1:30 - 2:30). So we started the 3 -5 show right on time, and we rocked. As Mrs. Ellis was dismissing kids after the show she whispered to me, "they called the Early Dismissal." I knew this was breaking her heart because we COULD have brought in the K-2 at the same time as the older kids for one huge (albeit compromised in content for the older kids) show. The older kids wouldn't have seen as much, but the younger kids wouldn't have missed out altogether. When I learned that Early Dismissal wasn't until 1:20, I suggested that we bring in the young audience at 12:00 (I had seen they were already going into lunch at 11:00) so they could see the show, despite the havoc it would wreak on an already crazy day (it had started snowing). My hat goes off to Mrs. Ellis - she managed to organize the whole reshuffling of lunch and recess schedules so I could do the show for the younger kids! And we rocked again. And I got out an hour early (thank goodness - the blizzard drive with no snowplows was pretty hairy until I got north of Springfield).

Here's part of what she said in a letter:

"…The children love this fun program. We have seen the impact in our projects for the science fair as well as in the vaious science assessments we use to measure academic achievement in the area of science. Definitely one of the best programs I have seen as an administrator in many schools in many parts of the country…."

-Ivelle Ellis, principal, Silvermine Elementary School, Norwalk, CT

Wow. Lake Avenue School seems like it was long ago now, but it was a blast. On Wednesday I was in Rutland at the Northeast School and got some cool feedback:

Overheard from the Kindergarten class as they left following a 60-minute show on Simple Machines: "I could have sat there for TWO hours!"

From Bob Johnson, the principal: "I just heard one of the little girls (his school only has K - 2) saying, 'when I grow up, I want to be a scientist.' We sure appreciate the great job you do in making this material accessible to the little ones, and also your help in bridging the gender gap. Thanks."

Got home from a fun "week" (only 3 days, but 11 shows!) in Singapore last night. Now off to Saratoga with the start of the 2011/2012 school year tour!

Can any of my new friends from Singapore post photos? Please share!

Back in Singapore for the Science Buskers' Festival at the Plaza Singopura. C'mon down - four shows today - 11:30, 1:30, 3:30, and 5:30. I'll be doing pieces from my Motion show, my Combustion show, and my Cirque DO SCIENCE show. Also, see all the demos the science fans of Singapore have put together - it's fun!