At 9 years old, Theo is our youngest Tinkerer member at SoundBio. He happens to love all things science and because both of his parents are heavily involved in the SoundBio community, it’s no surprise that Theo participates in a wide variety of events. He also assists with testing new activities to determine the engagement factor for other Junior Scientists.
When in the lab Theo learned about the importance of safety, and was always under direct supervision of one of his parents (both trained scientists). Here are a few fun activities Theo has participated in:
Private lab tour, ending in fruit DNA extraction
Micro-pippetting
Dogfish shark dissection workshop
Candy electrophoresis workshop
With help from his father, he took some great pictures of protozoa using SoundBio’s new Compound Microscope
Theo attended our Sign-Making Party for Seattle’s Science March and was featured in a Crosscut article about the event.
Theo with his brother Ty, and father, Dr. Herbert Sauro, getting ready to dissect a frog.
When we asked The'o’s mother about SoundBio’s impact on Theo, she said:
“SoundBio offers an extraordinary opportunity for hands-on science exposure in a safe and supportive environment. There is simply nothing else like it in the greater Seattle region. Because Theo is young we can only postulate how these experiences might impact his future. However, it’s clear that his love of science has grown. I’ve heard Theo reference the shark dissection workshop several times since participating and he asked for a frog dissection kit for Christmas. I’m quite certain that request would not have materialized without SoundBio. When he grows up Theo says he wants to ‘make products from plants - things like food, medicine and oil; all from plants’, so we may need to get him involved in SoundBio’s plant TOP project soon!'“
After speaking with Theo about his favorite workshop, he said:
“I didn’t even know you could dissect an animal!
It was fun to see all the organs inside a shark.”