Healing and Hope Through Science
Providing support for hospitalized children's emotional well-being and education by engaging them in activities that nurture their sense of curiosity about the natural world.

Providing support for hospitalized children's emotional well-being and education by engaging them in activities that nurture their sense of curiosity about the natural world.

Our mission is to engage hospitalized children with the wonders of science through meaningful learning experiences and to promote healing and hope through positive connections with nature.


Program Information

 Healing and Hope Through Science brings hands-on science classes, one on one instruction, and student authored Nature Newsletters to patients at Duke Children's Hospital and UNC Children's Hospital. We coordinate our programs with the Duke Hospital School and UNC Hospital School. Healing and Hope Through Science has served over 2200 patients since June of 2006.


Healing and Hope provides:

  • Materials for activities, including Black Bear track replicas and molds, live webcamera for bird watching, tissue paper for making botanically correct flowers, and Peterson�s Young Naturalist Field Guides
  • Nature Newsletters authored and illustrated by and for patients at UNC and Duke Children's Hospitals
  • One-on-one and group instruction to patients at Duke Children's Hospital and UNC Children's Hospital, as well as activities and field trips for outpatients. 
  • Activities with topics such as bird beaks and nests, butterfly coloration and patterning, how trees work, animal tracks and signs, and coastal ecology.


Why are we doing this with children in the hospital?

Simply put, we do it because the children really enjoy it--and it is good for them.  Studies have shown that interacting with natural objects can provide psychological and physiological benefits.  Many natural objects (or stories about nature or replicas of natural objects) can remind children of their home or of vacation environments, which can provide them with a sense of calm and familiarity.  Additionally, through both play and investigation, the children are empowered by creating their own rules and games.  Research has shown that children in the stressful hospital environment improve when they have access to "positive, productive activities that allow the child's direct involvement in a variety of sensory experiences." (Jesse et al. 1986)

Funding Information

Healing and Hope Through Science is funded by a generous grant from The Oak Foundation, as well as grants from the Hendrick Foundation, the Optimist Club of Chapel Hill and several private donations. We are currently seeking additional funding. For more information, please contact our Program Director and Educator, Katie (Vogel) Stoudemire at sciencekatie@unc.edu or 919 914 0015.