The question was simple, yet perplexing.
“Does anyone have a favorite chemical reaction?” Amy Novak, a Griffin Museum of Science and Industry scientist and educator, asked from the Percy Julian Middle School auditorium stage.
That elicited a mixed reaction. Okay, how about this?
“How many of you like explosions?” Novak said, and dozens of hands shot up … and not just youngsters.
“Would you enjoy it if I made a fire?” she went on, and that, if you’ll pardon the pun, broke the ice in Novak’s Fire & Ice Show at Saturday’s Fall Into STEM event, hosted by the Oak Park Education Foundation.
Novak and colleague Tanna Wieneke proceeded to do just that on stage – in a controlled manner, mind you – using a water cooler jug and a lighter. Later, the pair explained that at negative-109 degrees, dry ice goes from a solid state to gas, skipping the liquid phase. They got some adult volunteers to pour hot water over dry ice in plastic buckets, which created cauldrons of steaming white clouds.
Double, double, toil and trouble. The kids loved it.
“All scientists are good at observing things,” Novak said, and that was perhaps the key theme at Fall Into STEM.
Over in the Julian multi-purpose room, dozens of tables were set up that allowed youngsters and their folks to take part in everything from soldering to math card games to robotics.
Concordia University’s Nursing program was there and had a special guest laying on its table – “Stacy,” an eerily human-like simulator figure made by Laerdal Medical Equipment that allows visitors to assess heart and lung sounds, palpate pulses and listen to abdominal sounds. Stacy has a special pad that can be adjusted to mimic the sounds of asthma, for example.
“It’s showing them that nursing is a science in and of itself, and that they should embrace that if there is something about nursing that interests them in the future,” said Kristen Bayer, director of nursing.
Like all of the 30-plus exhibitors, Stacy drew a crowd, including Oak Park mom Kim Lenz and her young daughter, Caroline. Nearby, her son Jack worked with a special controller at a robotics station, moving a silver pinball through a maze. It was so cool, Caroline just had to try it, too.
In fact, there was something for everyone.
“It’s a lot of diverse, different things that my kids wouldn’t necessarily see otherwise,” Lenz said. “I just think it’s important to foster their curiosity. My son is really interested in science and robotics. My daughter, not so much, but we want to expose her to it.”
Latonia Baker is the education foundation executive director, and she said that she expected more than 200 grade-school-aged kids Saturday. Add at least one parent, if not both, and you’ve got a full house. What did she see?
“It’s almost like our mission, which is to bring that wow factor, joyful learning, having new experiences, fun in learning,” Baker said, “essentially not realizing that they are learning something. It’s really enrichment, in a sense.”
In the Julian gymnasium, Irving Elementary School student Ryan Nowicki had to stand on his tiptoes to place a Matchbox car at the top of a six-lane multi-colored grade.
“Different surfaces can react with different things to cause energy and cause friction, causing it to go slower or faster,” Nowicki said. “It depends on what two things we have.”
Here’s something else. You’ve heard of STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but you might not have heard of STEAM – which adds an A for arts. That was a component of Fenwick High School’s table in the multi-purpose room, where students used markers to decorate tiny paper flyers.
“We’re doing something with science but integrating art into it so that they can express themselves, basically,” said Leah Reynoso, a Fenwick senior.
Back in the gymnasium, Oak Park and River Forest High School sophomores Chelsea Melodia and Ben Levine manned the school’s colorful Environmental Club booth.
Bottom line, why should kids get involved in STEM?
“Because it’s their future,” Melodia said. “As simple as that sounds, if we’re going to make more advancements without AI, or anything, this is the future of America, and I think it’s so important they are getting started now.”
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