Hilltop students learn the science of weather

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Breanne Heitkamp, of the COSI on Wheels program, speaks to a group of students at Hilltop Elementary School April 13. Heitkamp presented the Current Conditions show to second-, third- and fourth-graders.

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Two fourth-grade students at Hilltop Elementary School participate in the interactive booth that explained and showed how pressure differences create wind.

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Fourth-grade students at Hilltop Elementary School check out the interactive cloud spotting table at the COSI On Wheels program April 13. Students were given a cloud finder page and were encouraged to look around the gym to match pictures of clouds on their page with ones on the walls.
By ABBY SLANKER
neighbors@vindy.com
Second, third and fourth-grade students at Hilltop Elementary had the opportunity to help a COSI meteorologist-in-training at the COSI On Wheels Current Conditions show April 13.
The Center of Science and Industry, COSI, located in Columbus, sponsors COSI On Wheels which travels to three to four schools a week.
The students gathered for the assembly in the gym in the morning and were treated to the interactive Current Conditions show during which COSI demonstrator Breanne Heitkamp asked for the students’ help reviewing for the COSI Meteorology Certification Test.
Heitkamp taught the students about precipitation, predicting the weather and different types of severe weather. The show included the demonstration of a steel barrel being crushed using only air, the creation of a cloud and lightning that struck over and over.
After the assembly, students returned to their classrooms and then returned to the gym class to participate in several different hands-on activities, including the Extreme Weather Challenge, Cloud Spotting and Wind Tunnels. Students gained more in-depth knowledge and were able to experience weather conditions at the interactive stations.
The students were given a list of several web sites and books to read more about the weather and a discount admission reward to COSI in Columbus for completing the COSI On Wheels program.
COSI on Wheels offers five other programs, including space, energy, wildlife, chemistry and human body and nutrition.