Students ‘Discover’ Science at NHS

By Jeff White

Kindergartner Mary Oliver touched the slimy squid tentatively.

Its insides were visible for the rest of the class to see. As volunteer Joseph McPhee explained the functions of a squid’s organs, students shifted from expressions of wonderment to one’s of squeamishness. But Mary wanted that squid, and managed to walk out of the “More Guts and Bones” workshop with it wrapped delicately in white paper.

“Guts” was just one of 30 workshops that made up the eighth annual Discovery Science Workshop, put on by the Newtown Junior Women’s Club (NJWC) at the high school last Saturday morning. Over 300 primary school students crowded the high school’s classrooms during the two 45-minute sessions, which covered the gamut from chemistry and volcanoes to architecture and origami.

NJWC member Maryann Ziman, one of the co-chairs for the workshop, recognized the efforts of the volunteers who all helped run the event. “The workshops are completely run by volunteers,” she said. “Our volunteers work before hand making all of the arrangements, publicizing the event, and then actually working at the event.

“The workshops are taught by community volunteers who give of their time and energy to make this day a success for the children of Newtown.”

Students who attended Jim Barber’s “Lights, Camera, Action” workshop learned the nuances of video production, and had the opportunity to make their own videos in small groups. Parents and children stood at opposite ends of makeshift telephones in order to see how sound waves travel in Mat Kastner’s “Waves & Sounds” presentation. Physics were well represented; Greg Gallatin put on a workshop that concentrated on forces, and Mike Iassogna demonstrated the different manifestations of one particular force: centrifugal.

In general, the hands-on workshops proved the most popular for students and parents alike. Dr Eugene Cayer, whose workshop “The Amazing Human Body” was a big draw last Saturday, passed out tee shirts on which student drew the various parts of the human body. In the high school’s media center, parents patiently stood behind their children at multicolored Macintosh terminals as the students participated in an Internet scavenger hunt.

The morning’s second session drew a large crowd to the foyer outside the gymnasium, as Phyllis Weiner of Roaring Brook Nature Center showed off an assortment of wildlife, from ferrets to toads. Students fidgeted in excitement at the prospect of petting the foreign creatures of the nature center.

It was the third Discovery Science Workshop for fifth-grader Scott Shannon and his sister, Sarah, both of whom have maintained a keen interest in science over the past several years. “I think [the workshops are] fun because you get to do lots of activities,” Scott said.

Sarah, a third-grader, expressed her excitement at the outset of her Origami workshop: “I like making stuff and creating stuff because I want to be an artist when I grow up.”

“I liked chemistry,” said fourth-grader Chris Snow, who attended a workshop that culminated in the lighting of a rocket. Moreover, in the “A View Through the Microscope” workshop, Chris had a chance to see what some of his own cells, scraped from the inside of his cheek, looked like.

Emily Oliver enjoyed the workshop put on by Detective Robert Tvardzik of the Newtown Police Department. The forensic presentation was neat, she concluded, especially “when they dusted for fingerprints.”

Jennifer Greenwood had to side with the “How Motors Work” workshop, which she concluded was an interesting way to learn about the mechanics and forces that help motors turn.

The morning proved to be a hit with parents too. Gerri Snow has brought her children to the last five science fairs, and thought this year’s was a success. “It’s a really neat thing to do in the middle of winter,” she said. “[The workshop] had good variety and good choices.”

Last Saturday’s festivities concluded with an hour-long presentation by “Dr Flush” of Hamilton Sundstrand, one of the only manufacturers of space suits in the country. His workshop “Life after Liftoff” talked about the many facets of space travel, from the processes involved in leaving and entering the Earth’s atmosphere to the components of a space suit.

The Discovery Science Workshops gave some of Newtown’s elementary students a window into the professional world of people who make a living with science. Scott Shannon concluded that the morning was good for those students who wanted to get an early idea of how different professionals, like scientists and natural historians, apply their trade in the adult world. Perhaps it could peak the curiosity of a third grader who might go on to study medicine or chemistry. “When you grow up, at least you’ll know something about it,” he said.