Photo Courtesy Lancaster Newspapers "Every exhibit's on order," according to Bunting, who said displays will be converging from as far away as Germany and England and as close by as Millersville University and the Stevens College of Technology, among others.
All exhibits will be grouped under one of six themes: mechanics and motion; structural engineering; air and flight; optics and light; electricity and magnetism; and fluid dynamics.
Students in this country have fallen behind in these fields, according to the National Academy of Sciences.
The Science Factory aims to fire youthful imaginations - especially those of nontraditional learners - by presenting the technical stuff in accessible, multi-sensory ways.
The factory will serve all students and families, but especially children in grades three through eight; city students; and girls, who are underrepresented in the sciences.
"You have to let the kid follow his curiosity," said Bunting, the inspiration behind the project. "It's not pushing a button or pulling a lever. The kid actually builds the bridge."
On to reality
Bunting, the founder of Stoner Bunting Advertising, is a 64-year-old father and grandfather. He set about launching his mission four years ago after he visited a science center in Florida.
The Lancaster Science Center, the umbrella organization, was incorporated in 2004. Now, Bunting said, the Science Factory, which is the latest incarnation of the 1934 Kerr building, is coming to fruition for the amazingly low startup price of $1 million.
A "wonderful lease agreement" with Ray and Lisa Shirk of the Securus Group Inc. financial company next door is helping to make that possible, he said.
So are the 60 or so supporters who are drafting blueprints, addressing letters and building Web sites free of charge "as we talk."
"Jim's just put together a great group of people to make this a reality," said Eric Shirk, who is part owner of the property with his parents.
The Science Factory is part of the rapidly unfolding redevelopment of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corp. complex by Barry J. Baldwin.
"Urban Place itself is really going to be exploding in the next six to 12 months," said Shirk, who noted that an adjacent factory building should be ready for apartment rentals in August.
Restaurants, high-end condos and possibly a hotel are also said to be on tap for Urban Place.
"I think the Science Center is going to be a very important part," Shirk said.
Last week, he added, workers in the Science Factory were framing interior walls for the bathrooms and a classroom enclosure that architect Carol Hickey has designed to resemble a factory building with a sawtooth roofline.
Renowned exhibit consultant Peter Anderson came from Britain to help them narrow the list of installations.
Volunteers are constructing about a third of the exhibits, Bunting noted.
A professor at Millersville University is developing a 30-foot Foucault pendulum that will demonstrate the rotation of the earth, according to Bunting.
A German company is providing a light refraction table while Hands On! Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla., is working on a tennis ball launcher that will demonstrate the power of compressed air.
Deb Young, an interior design consultant and former Hands-on House Children's Museum employee with 18 years in the field, elaborated on several more displays:
"Mini-racers is one of the fun ones where you'll build your own little race car" and race it on a track, she said.
Kids will learn about the
forces in moving fluids by manipulating a Bernoulli blower.
A "Break the Dam" exhibit will allow visitors to experiment with homebuilt dams in a small "creek."
Waterproof matting will deflect splashes in areas around water-oriented exhibits; carpet and finished concrete will comprise the rest of the floor space.
Young said her job is to orient the exhibits to make them complementary and allow kids to build upon their knowledge as they cruise from one station to the next.
Approachability and accessibility are key, explained Young, whose husband, Rich, a retired Armstrong floor plant manager, is coordinating exhibit acquisitions.
The challenge is to avoid glossy, over-engineered exhibits and yet retain what Deb Young calls "the wow factor."
She said that gets increasingly tougher because video games and other high-tech visuals have jaded people.
Yet, she believes the completed Science Factory will have an advantage over larger metro counterparts.
"We don't have four busloads and 50,000 people in there" at one time, she said. "What's going to be really great about the Lancaster Science Factory is it will be small enough ... that we can present exhibits and programs that can be very lab-like."
Proponents expect to host 30,000 to 50,000 visitors the first year.
The factory will feature "a lot of bright colors," Young said. Under the lease arrangement, it can be expanded if needed.
"I think it's great" from a parent's perspective, said Eric Shirk, who added that the the project is also unlocking the inner child of some adults.
Bunting is devoted to giving every kid an equal chance to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Shirk said.
"He gets more and more excited as it gets closer. I think by the time the doors open he might be about 12 again."
