Taking a closer look
CRANBERRY TWP — Armed with hand-held microscopes and a keen sense of curiosity, second-graders in Angela Cardillo's class at Rowan Elementary School set out around their classroom to explore the world unseen to the naked eye.
The microscopes were brought in by outreach educators from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory during a visit Tuesday morning. The National Energy Technology Laboratory travels to schools throughout the region to get students interested in science early on.
Not only can science be fun and interesting, but it's the way of the future, said Ken Mechling, K-12 STEM education and outreach coordinator with the National Energy Technology Laboratory. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.
“As time goes on in our country, scientists are getting older and retiring. We need to make sure we have a new supply of young scientists to address problems of the world,” Mechling said.
Mechling said they're just encouraging the children's natural curiosity in the world around them through hands-on science, technology, engineering and math-related activities. That's the best way to learn about STEM and keep students engaged, he said.
This is the third time Cardillo has had the Department of Energy visit her class. Whenever possible she tries to bring in community members and other outside resources that tie in with what they're doing in the classroom to talk to her students.
“I enjoy bringing in people from outside to do real world stuff,” she said.
Not only are they getting the students interested, but Mechling said they also try to do activities that the teachers can easily replicate themselves using simple, inexpensive and easily available materials.
“We want teachers to say 'we could do this,'” he said.
Before exploring the magnified world, Mechling read the Rowan students a book called “Two Bad Ants” by Chris Van Allburg, a book that explores the world from an ant's perspective.
Mechling asked the children to pick two items from around the room and sketch what they thought that item would look like once magnified. Then the students had to check the items out through their microscopes and draw what the items actually looked like.
“The thing I like about predicting is they're just guesses,” he told the students. “It if doesn't come true, no big deal.”After that the students were free to explore the rest of the room through their microscopes. They looked at backpacks, book covers, clothing, Velcro, pipe cleaners, desks, hair, pencil tips and more. Whatever they could press against the lens of the microscope was fair game.“That looked nothing like I thought it would,” said second-grader Lauryn Fencik, after examining the carpet fibers up close.Next the students looked at a presentation of various household things through a microscope and had to guess what the item was.Mechling told the students they were already thinking just like scientists and engineers do by experimenting, problem-solving and practicing decision-making skills.“That's what scientists do. They look at the world around them and say, I wonder what or I wonder if,” he said. “And that's the springboard to a lot of good science.”To set up a National Energy Technology Laboratory visit or learn more about available programs, visit www.netl.doe.gov and click on the Education tab at the top of the page.
