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Friday, 14 November 2008 |
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By KATIE YANTIS
Staff Writer
NEW BREMEN — Students at New Bremen Junior High and Elementary school were jumping up and down, flailing their arms to be picked as a “hyper helper” Thursday morning during an assembly.
Students were visited by COSI on Wheels Thursday to learn about, air, and the weather.
“They do a great job in the morning where they have an overall session in the morning,” Principal Karen Smith said. “Then the kids get to go to different stations throughout the afternoon.”
The assembly was funded by a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) grant the school received. STEM grants were given to New Bremen, Fort Recovery and St. Henry. Each school received $180,000.
“This is just one thing we used that money for,” Smith said.
The students learned about precipitation, different clouds, what an air mass is and even how a rain drop is formed.
“The kids have an opportunity to do many activities and at the same time they are learning facts about the weather,” Smith said.
During the morning assembly, students saw a variety of experiments showing them more information about the air, the molecules in it and how the weather works.
COSI presenter Nate Roderick showed the students how molecules in the air heat up and cool down using a pop can. Roderick heated the pop can and crushed it when he dipped it in water.
Roderick kept the attention of the students by asking for volunteers, even requesting teachers assistance as well.
He also increased the level of the experiment by showing a previous experiment done displaying the same knowledge with a steel trash can. After Roderick finished the morning assembly, each grade was able to return to the gym to interact at individual stations.
There were 10 different stations that were broken up into different sections. The sections included extreme weather, forecasting, clouds and air.
“We took the major components of weather and have broken it down into activity clusters,” Roderick said.
Before sending the first group of seventh-grade students to the different activities, Roderick made one request to the students.
“I challenge you to find one thing you think is interesting and didn’t know,” Roderick said. “Make an effort to learn something brand new.”
Roderick said he enjoys the job because it allows him to see students incorporate learning and fun together.
“It’s cool to see them have fun, particularly when they are learning things about science,” Roderick said. “Kids don’t incorporate fun and learning together anymore.”
Students also said they enjoyed the assembly and learned a few new things.
Seventh-grade student Julie Brown said she had fun at the air pressure station.
“I learned about the layers of the atmosphere at the question game,” Brown said.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 November 2008 )
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