Science Center program brings concepts to life

East Crawford Elementary School students enjoyed a day of fun March 21 while learning about science, as the Kentucky Science Center brought one of its traveling assembly programs to the school.

This program is titled “Ion Jones and the Lost Castle of Chemistry.”

Darian Doom’deVot led the high-energy all-school assembly as students “flew” around the globe encountering various scientific principles at each stop as they learned about atoms, compounds and reactions.

The favorite reactions, of course, involved fireballs and elicited gasps from the students.

Science, Doom’deVot told the group, is a way of looking at the world, asking questions and figuring out how it works.

Following the assembly, students returned by class and participated in experiments at 10 different stations as they learned about concepts including chemical reactions, luminescence, polymers, viscosity and scents.

National Honor Society members and students in the teacher education pathway at Crawford County High School volunteered at each of the experiment stations.

Kids always enjoy getting their hands a little dirty, noted Doom’deVot.

“It encourages them to learn, more than sitting in a lecture,” she said. “They see how concepts apply in real life and learn that science is all around you.”

They also learn that things are not always as they seem.

A demonstration involving two balloons, one filled with oxygen, the other with helium, both looked and behaved exactly alike. That is, until lit with a torch, resulting in the helium-filled balloon bursting into flame.

“Two things may look exactly alike but be completely different,” Doom’deVot said.

Scientific experimentation teaches “you can’t always trust your eyes,” she added.

Fourth-grade teacher Angie Schnieders was responsible for bringing the program to East.

One of her children attends Greenville Elementary School and participated in a Kentucky Science Center traveling assembly. Seeing her child’s excitement and enthusiasm prompted Schnieders to pursue the same opportunity for East Crawford Elementary.

“She has put so much work into this. She’s the one who made it possible,” said school principal Chasity Wiseman, noting the school is pursuing more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) opportunities and the Kentucky Science Center program advances that goal.

Schnieders said making education relevant and engaging is key.

“They have to have fun while learning,” she said, noting there would be no way the school could logistically have students conduct 10 experiments in one day without this opportunity.

“This was just wonderful,” she said.