STEAM Day brings hands-on experiments to Mars Area
Students laughed, shrieked, cheered, and “oohed” and “ahhed” at science experiments during a morning of hands-on activities at Mars Area Elementary School’s inaugural STEAM Day.
The event, run by student members of Mars Area High School’s Science National Honor Society, connected older students with younger classrooms to show off science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) activities and involve kids in making learning fun.
Students rotated between six stations, exploring demonstrations run by high school students that included a Van der Graaff generator that transferred static electricity across a chain of students, a tornado machine, an Oobleck demonstration where students made chemical concoctions, and a homemade ice cream stand.
Elementary school students gathered in circles to test out the experiments. Liam Wilson, 10, was excited about the Oobleck demonstration.
“Oobleck is a solid and a liquid,” he said. “When you hit the Oobleck, it’s hard, but when you softly touch it, it’s a liquid. I like it because the chemistry inside of the Oobleck is hard and soft.”
Crystal Loiola, 8, participated in the tornado machine demonstration.
“When I put my hand in it, it felt like wind on the bottom of my hand,” she said.
Mars’ chapter of Science National Honor Society was started last school year and is a branch of a larger national organization. Much of the club’s first year was spent planning for events like this one, teacher sponsor Eric Harsh said.
“This is hopefully a jump-off point for this to get larger in the future,” he said. “In the past, high school teachers brought students down and they would do different demonstrations and things. A lot of the students said they remembered it, and loved it, and they wanted to do something to get that tradition back in place.”
Senior Anuj Kaul, the group’s president, said he and his friends had gotten together before COVID-19 with the intent to bring a more subject-area specific version of National Honor Society to Mars for students interested in STEAM careers. There are more than 90 members in the club in total.
“They were saying we need a Science National Honor Society, because some kids who are specializing in STEAM want to be able to put themselves out there and make their resume a little more credible in the area they want to dive deeper into,” he said. “We’ve been working on these projects since December and getting ready for it.”
STEAM Day, he said, gives the club’s members a chance to introduce younger students to science activities.
“It presents science to all these kids, and if that is what they’re interested in, and what they want to go into, this is the foundation and where it starts,” he said.
Fourth-grade teacher Kelly Hathazy said students have been looking forward to the event.
“They love STEAM activities, projects and challenges, so they were really excited,” she said. “I think it’s good for them to see what they can do when they get older, and how they can build relationships and get involved in school.”
Mars Area Elementary Principal Todd Lape was encouraged to see the interaction between older and younger students.
“Clearly (our) kids look up to these kids,” he said. “It’s great seeing them here, and they are good role models for our kids. To have (STEAM) come to life here, with older kids, not just a teacher, telling them about it, and showing them the demonstrations and actually participating in the activities and experiments, that’s fantastic.”
Jessica Semler, assistant principal at Mars Area High School, loved hearing the younger kids laughing and getting excited about learning.
“I think it is phenomenal that our seniors have taken ownership of this project. They have done everything themselves with the materials and planned the day, and I could not be more proud of them representing Mars High School than I am today,” she said. “They’ve done a phenomenal job.”
