VERO BEACH — Science is noticeably more engaging and interesting when hands-on activities are involved. No matter how many pictures there might be in a textbook, it just can’t beat the real thing.
That was the thought behind last Saturday’s ‘Doing Science’ day at St. Edward’s School, which was open to students throughout the entire community in grades one through seven.
“Too often schools talk about science, but we really want kids “doing” science. We want them to fall in love with it,” said Dr. Kerryanne Monahan, Upper School Science Department chair.
The event was a lead-in to get students excited about the Indian River Lagoon Science Festival, taking place Saturday, Sept. 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Museum Point Park on South Hutchinson Island.
Chris Ryan, Marine Biology Educator at the Smithsonian Marine Station, said they wanted to embrace the diversity of the Treasure Coast by expanding their annual Estuaries Day activities.
Thanks to a grant received from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, they were able to include a few satellite events, including the one at St. Edward’s School.
“We matched the funds,” said Monahan. “This is a way to give back to the community.”
The day was divided into activities for students in grades one to four and five to seven, with the littler ones kept engaged with a variety of hands-on activity stations arranged throughout the gym by science teacher, Kelly Hudson.
At the bird station, kids were tasked with determining which human tool most closely matched the way a bird would utilize its beak to get its food.
Chalk it up to the eek factor, but the log filled with bugs – realistic but fake – that mimicked how a woodpecker would search for its prey was a popular one.
Other fun activities included a color mixing station, with children making as many different colors as possible utilizing three primary colors, a launcher that shot drinking straws across the room, and the chance to interact with a baby alligator and a box turtle.
The biggest draw for boys and girls alike, was building vehicles using K’NEX construction toys and watching them careen down a ramp – or not – as a way to learn about friction, aerodynamics and gravity.
Outside, older students had built some very impressive bottle rockets out of water bottles, half a tennis ball and cardboard ‘wings.’ With an air pump building up the pressure, the rockets were blasted high into the air.
“It teaches them that science doesn’t have to be boring,” said sophomore Alyson Intihar, one of about 20 Upper School students who had volunteered to help.
The older kids were also taken out on a pontoon boat for some field work, watching for birds, turtles and other animals along the lagoon. In one of the science classrooms they got up close and personal with a few of the school’s resident exotic species.
Later in the afternoon, John Nelson, current president of the Audubon Society of Martin County and the voice of the Audubon Moment on WQCS, gave a presentation on Connections, talking about how birds connect us to various scientific disciplines.
Employing pictures and videos, he described how the study of birds is a great way to study our environment as a whole.