An electric surge similar to lightning met Frankie Lupo’s outstretched thumb at the edge of the demonstration ‘plasma ball’ at Farmingville Elementary School’s Family Science Night on Thursday, April 30.
— Macklin Reid photo
Family Science Night at Farmginville School drew about 125 students to enjoy interactive science exhibits demonstrating aspects of science from magnetism and Bernouli’s principle.
Kids watched lightning-like currents of electricity leap to their touch on the plasma ball, designed a twisting turning pathway for a ball to go down demonstrating gravity, looked out from inside a giant bubble in the bubble tower, looked at a life-sized skeleton to see how the human body is put together, and sifted through sand to find dinosaur bones in a simulated fossil dig.
There were three 45-minute sessions in the Farmingville gym the evening of Thursday, April 30. The event was run by Will Hatch of Kidz Science Safari, and the PTA had students filled out worksheets on the activities.
“The PTA sponsored science night and was happy to bring a new event to Farmingville,” said Amy Janzon of the Farmingville PTA.
“While we’ve held science nights for many years, bringing a hands-on science museum format into the school was new and we’ve gotten very favorable responses to the event,” she said.
“We were looking for a way to get students excited about science, and the self-directed nature of the program and the ability of the kids to explore and discover through a hands-on format really worked. The students came away from the event with questions and an interest in learning more about science.”
—Macklin Reid