Merit Badge University at the Discovery Center
Saturday, January 27, 2024
Earn up to three merit badges, enjoy lunch, and meet other scout families at this scouts-only event! Merit Badge University is for Scout badge requirements (Weeblo and Cub Scout options are not available at this time).
Pricing
$40: Full Day Rotation (9:30 am – 6:00 pm)
- Include Scout admission, merit badge supplies, and Scout lunch
- Includes optional adult chaperone admission
- Adult chaperone not required to stay
- $5 additional for adult lunch
$15: Single Badge (Starting at 9:30 am)
- Includes Scout admission, merit badge supplies
- Includes required adult chaperone admission
- Adult chaperone required to stay
- $5/person (adults and children) for lunch for classes starting at 9:30 am ONLY
Badge Options
Full Day Rotation (9:30 am – 6:00 pm)
- Rotation A: Environmental Science & Geology
- Rotation B: Space Exploration, Art, & Robotics
- Rotation C: Chess, Robotics, & Space Exploration
- Rotations D: Citizenship in the Community, Fingerprinting, & Citizenship in the Nation with History Museum on the Square
Single Badge Options
- Art: 12:45 pm – 2:45 pm or 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
- Chess: 9:30 am – 12:30 pm or 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Citizenship in the Community with History Museum on the Square: 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
- Citizenship in the Nation with History Museum on the Square: 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Geology: 9:30 am -1:30 pm or 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Robotics: 12:45 pm – 2:45 pm or 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
- Space Exploration: 9:30 am – 12:30 pm or 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Weather: 9:30 am – 12:30 pm or 12:45 pm – 2:45 pm
Questions regarding Merit Badge University can be sent to Riana Clark, DCS Education Director, at rclark@discoverycenter.org
FAQ
Parent Participation:
Parents are required to attend if Scouts are not staying for a full day rotation. While other parents are encouraged to attend, they are not required to be actively engaged with badge program. Younger Scouts may benefit from parental assistance when navigating the Center to find their next program. A $5 lunch fee is required for adults who would like to participate in the lunch provided for Scouts.
Using the Scout Booklet:
Scouts should read each booklet thoroughly and take notes for any requirements that call for discussion, explanation or description so they may refer to them during the program and participate fully in the group discussion. A Scout who is poorly prepared or does not participate in group discussions will not receive full completion.
Helpful Information:
Blue Cards: Please bring your blue cards. We do not supply blue cards.
Prerequisites: Full completion of any of these merit badges is possible if Scouts complete prerequisites before class. If a Scout does not finish all requirements, they can work with their counselor to list and initial requirements completed on their blue card for later completion with the counselor.
Buddy System: Scouts should follow the buddy system with 2-deep adult leadership for all merit badge sessions and for all meetings with Counselors.
Clothing: Scouts are expected to wear their field uniform (“Class A” uniform) with Scout pants and shirt to demonstrate participation as a Scout and to reinforce Scouting values and behavior during the course. Scouts must wear closed-toe shoes or boots (not sandals) with socks to classes for safety. Neckerchiefs and merit badge sashes and medals are not expected or required.
Cell Phones: Scouts may have cell phones with them during the course, but cell phones should be turned completely off during all class sessions. If a Scout chooses to send text messages or talk on their cell phone during class, they will be expected to loan their cell phone to the instructor or to their parent or to a Scout leader for safe keeping during the rest of the day, to be returned when the class ends.
Badge Prerequisites
Environmental Science Prerequisites:
Requirement 1: Make a timeline of the history of environmental science in America. Identify the contribution made by the Boy Scouts of America to environmental science. Include dates, names of people or organizations, and important events.
Requirement 2: Define the following terms: population, community, ecosystem, biosphere, symbiosis, niche, habitat, conservation, threatened species, endangered species, extinction, pollution prevention, brownfield, ozone, watershed, airshed, nonpoint source, hybrid vehicle, fuel cell.
Requirement 4: Choose two outdoor study areas that are very different from one another (e.g., hilltop vs. bottom of a hill; field vs. forest; swamp vs. dry land). For BOTH study areas, do ONE of the following:
- Mark off a plot of 4 square yards (about the area of a queen-sized bed) in each study area and count the number of species found there. Estimate how much space is occupied by each plant species and the type and number of non-plant species you find. Write a report that adequately discusses the biodiversity and population density of these study areas. Discuss your report with your counselor.
- Make at least three visits to each of the two study areas (for a total of six visits), staying for at least 20 minutes each time, to observe the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. Space each visit far enough apart that there are readily apparent differences in the observations. Keep a journal that includes the differences you observe. Then, write a short report that adequately addresses your observations, including how the differences of the study areas might relate to the differences noted, and discuss this with your counselor.
Chess Prerequisites:
Requirement 3: Demonstrate to your counselor that you know each of the following. Then, using Scouting’s Teaching EDGE, teach someone (preferably another Scout) who does not know how to play chess:
- The name of each chess piece
- How to set up a chessboard
- How each chess piece moves, including castling and en passant captures
Art Prerequisites:
Requirement 6: With your parent’s permission and your counselor’s approval, visit a museum, art exhibit, art gallery, artists’ co-op, or artist’s workshop. Find out about the art displayed or created there. Discuss what you learn with your counselor.
Space Exploration Prerequisites:
Requirement 1: Tell the purpose of space exploration and include the following:
- Historical reasons
- Immediate goals in terms of specific knowledge
- Benefits related to Earth resources, technology, and new products
- International relations and cooperation
Requirement 2: Design a collector’s card, with a picture on the front and information on the back, about your favorite space pioneer. Share your card and discuss four other space pioneers with your counselor.
Requirement 8: Discuss with your counselor two possible careers in space exploration that interest you. Find out the qualifications, education, and preparation required and discuss the major responsibilities of those positions.
Weather Prerequisites:
Requirement 1: Define meteorology. Explain what weather is and what climate is. Discuss how the weather affects farmers, sailors, aviators, and the outdoor construction industry. Tell why weather forecasts are important to each of these groups.
Requirement 2: Name five dangerous weather-related conditions. Give the safety rules for each when outdoors and explain the difference between a severe weather watch and a warning. Discuss the safety rules with your family.
Requirement 6: Draw a diagram of the water cycle and label its major processes. Explain the water cycle to your counselor.
Requirement 11: Find out about a weather-related career opportunity that interests you. Discuss with and explain to your counselor what training and education are required for such a position, and the responsibilities required of such a position.
Robotics Prerequisites:
Requirement 1: Do each of the following:
- Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you may encounter while working with robots and what you should do to anticipate, mitigate and prevent, and respond to these hazards. Describe the appropriate safety fear and clothing that should be used when working with robotics.
- Discuss first aid and prevention for the types of injuries that could occur while participating in robotics activities and coemptions, including cuts, eye injuries and burns (chemical or heat).
Requirement 2: Discuss the following with your counselor:
- The kinds of things robots can do and how robots are best used today.
- The similarities and differences between remote control vehicles, telerobots, and autonomous robots.
- Three different methods robots can use to move themselves other than wheels or tracks. Describe when it would be appropriate to use each method.
Requirement 3: Discuss with your counselor three of the major fields of robotics (human-robot interface, mobility, manipulation, programming, sensors) and their importance to robotics development. Discuss either the tree fields as they relate to a single robot system OR talk about each field in general. Find pictures or at least one video to aid your discussion.
Citizenship in the Nation Prerequisites:
Requirement 3: Watch the national evening news five days in a row OR read the front page of a major daily newspaper five days in a row. Discuss the national issues you learned about. Choose one of the issues and explain how it affects you and your family.
Citizenship in the Community Prerequisites:
Requirement 3: Do the following:
- Attend a meeting of your city, town, or county council or school board; OR attend a municipal, county, or state court session.
- Choose one of the issues discussed at the meeting where a difference of opinions was expressed and explain to your counselor why you agree with one opinion more than you do another one.
Requirement 4: Choose an issue that is important to the citizens of your community; then do the following:
- Find out which branch of local government is responsible for this issue.
- With your counselor’s and a parent’s approval, interview one person from the branch of government you identified in requirement
- Ask what is being done about this issue and how young people can help.
- Share what you have learned with your counselor.
Requirement 5: With the approval of your counselor and a parent, watch a movie that shows how the actions of one individual or group of individuals can have a positive effect on a community. Discuss with your counselor what you learned from the movie about what it means to be a valuable and concerned member of the community.
Requirement 7c: With your counselor’s and your parent’s approval, contact the organization you chose for requirement 7b, and find out what young people can do to help. While working on this merit badge, volunteer at least eight hours of your time for the organization. After your volunteer experience is over, discuss what you have learned with your counselor.
Requirement 8: Develop a public presentation (such as a video, slide show, speech, digital presentation, or photo exhibit) about important and unique aspects of your community. Include information about the history, cultures, and ethnic groups of your community; its best features and popular places where people gather; and the challenges it faces. Stage your presentation in front of your merit badge counselor or a group, such as your patrol or a class at school.