From raptors to rockets to recycling, Seaview Elementary students get stoked on science
Posted: April 3, 2015 1260
Friday’s Science Day Expo at Seaview K-6 Elementary was definitely not your average school science fair.
“We do this every two years, and it requires months of advance planning,” said principal Jack Sackett. “We bring in an array of expert outside presenters who possess that special combination of solid subject knowledge and superior teaching and communication skills. Our goal is to spark an interest in science that will carry over and last a lifetime.”
Each presenter set up in a separate classroom, and student groups moved between setups. “We make sure we balance natural and physical sciences, and make special efforts to relate what the students see to their everyday lives,” said Bob Shepard, who along with teachers Sharon Knechtel and Kerry Fleiger-Holmes put the event together. “Our biggest challenge is securing enough presenters — this year we have 17 — who have the skills and knowledge to provide a variety of experiences that can be custom tailored to engage our full student population, Kindergarten through 6th grade.”
Maureen Carlisle, paleontologist from the Burke Museum, shows off some dinosaur fossils to an eager group of fourth graders, who seem to know all the scientific dinosaur names. (Photos by Larry Vogel)
Highlights of this year’s event included a hands-on exercise in fossil identification from the Burke Museum, an engaging show on intertidal plants, animals and ecology by the Edmonds Beach Rangers, a wildlife rescue info session, including a fully-grown Red Tailed Hawk, Opossum, and owl courtesy of Bainbridge Island’s West Sound Wildlife Rehab Center, and for budding rocket scientists, a build-and-launch-your-own bottlerocket workshop.
“I love doing this,” said a smiling Shepard, who has spearheaded the past 19 Seaview Science Day expos. “I’m already looking forward to the next one.”
— Story and photos by Larry Vogel
Nancy LeMay from the West Sound Wildlife Rehab Center on Bainbridge Island introduces a group of fourth-graders to Cedar, a Red-tailed Hawk who came to their center after having been hit by a car. “Our goal is to rehabilitate all the animals brought to us and return them to the wild,” she said. “But Cedar’s accident damaged her eyesight to the point where she couldn’t hunt, so she is staying with us permanently.”Kelsi Frazen of Snohomish County Waste Management gives a lively presentation on what happens to your trash, recycling and yard waste after it gets picked up in front of your home.Science Day Expo coordinators Sharon Knechtel, Bob Shepard and Kerry Fleiger-Holmes began working on the event back in September. “It’s a challenge to line up an array of presenters from a representative range of science disciplines,” said Knechtel. “We try very hard to make sure that we offer the students a wide range of material, presented in an interesting and engaging format.”Jim Strechenbach has been a presenter in every Seaview Science Day expo, starting when his children were students at Seaview. An inveterate tinkerer, garage wizard and inventor, Strechenbach specializes in showing how everyday gadgets really work, and explaining the science behind them.Budding rocket scientists prepare bottle rockets in the schoolyard. Powered with a potent mix of baking soda and vinegar that produces a burst of carbon dioxide, the rockets can rise 30 feet or more.
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