Science lab on wheels

A science semi on wheels demonstrated the power of electricity and sound to third- through sixth-grade students Thursday at Travis Elementary.

"With Travis being a science magnet, the program just complemented our instruction, and it fell into place," Travis assistant principal Greg McDaniel said. After a visit to another school in the Basin fell through, the National Science Center contacted the school about a stop at Travis. The National Science Center, based out of Augusta, Ga., provides two roving labs that travel around the 48 contiguous states for 220 days each year.

"We do about eight or nine different demonstrations and also have students take a quiz to see how they do for a couple of the hours every visit," Education Services Specialist Richard Cadwell said. Cadwell's fellow worker on the travels is Sgt. First Class Joel Martinez Galindo. They both come from Fort Knox, Ky., and staff the lab as part of a partnership between the U.S. Army and the National Science Center.

Climbing on board, the first class, a group of fourth-graders, grabbed a clicker device. Cadwell asked students some questions to judge how much they knew about science, and the students answered them by pushing buttons to register their answers on an interactive whiteboard.

"Now the last class got these all right. Do you think you are smarter than a fifth-grader? I know I'm not, but are you?" Cadwell asked to the nods of the crowd.

After the introductory quiz, the main focus of the presentation dealt with the power of sound and electricity - and students eyed the gadgets used to demonstrate those concepts quite often through the presentation.

"It was really cool getting to see how friction and static electricity appears," fourth-grader Allee Munsey said.

Turning off the regular lights, Cadwell used a strobe lamp to highlight how sound bent a pane of glass he put into a sealed chamber. The glass vibrated due to the sound, eventually shattering to the delightful shriek of kids.

Cadwell then discussed the topic of electricity. Students rubbed their hands together to simulate disturbed electrons. As part of the simulator, Cadwell brought out a generator creating static electricity. The device shot a little lightning bolt onto another piece of metal (and into Cadwell's arm, causing his hand to jump).

But, the students reacted even more strongly to fourth-grader Alliyah Castillo standing on a plastic stool with her hand on the generator. By doing this, she built up electricity until laughter began erupting from those watching - her hair stood up due to a strong static charge.

Classmate Tyler Dyson discharged the electricity by touching her finger, getting a slight shock.

The event concluded with a final test recapping the subjects studied during the session.

"It was fun - I loved seeing the sparks; it made it really interesting," fourth-grader Andrew Ables said.

Schedule a visit

>> To request a school visit by the mobile lab, go online at:  http://www.nscdiscovery.org/eo/outreachprograms/mobilediscovery/requestavanvisit.aspx.

>> You may also call (800) 325-5445 ext. 0219