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Springfield students learn science in the great outdoors
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
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Springfield Elementary third grader Savannah Sheely examines a rock just outside Springfield Intermediate. Eighth graders from the district Tuesday taught elementary students different science subjects.
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
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Second graders Payton Blackburn and Maggie Musser, both 8, look for bone fragments inside a sterilized owl pellet. They were among the Springfield Elementary students having a field day Tuesday learning about science.
By Robert Guttersohn
NEW MIDDLETOWN
The ground beneath the log cabin shook violently and rhythmically.
Suddenly, the shaking intensified, breaking the rhythm and sending the cabin into the air.
“Stop it,” one Springfield elementary student ordered another over-jubilant one. And just as suddenly as it began, the earthquake ended. But throughout the ordeal, the Lincoln Log cabin stayed intact.
Springfield Intermediate’s eighth-graders Mark Schuler and Tyler Cardona had the district’s elementary students pound their fists on tables, simulating an earthquake and displaying how earthquake-resilient structures can save lives.
It was one of about a dozen stations outside Springfield Intermediate on Tuesday where eighth-graders played science teachers to 400 elementary students.
It gives “them a chance to reverse the roles and be teachers, work with the kids, develop some science concepts,” Pat Ivan, the eighth- grade science teacher, said. Ivan said this was the first time the event took place in 10 years.
The subjects ranged from dissecting owl pellets to astronomy.
The 100 eighth-graders prepared three months for the event, developing lesson plans and referencing elementary-school standards for the particular subjects they taught.
“So we’re sort of extending and enhancing what the teachers would be doing in their classrooms with these outdoor activities,” Ivan said.
Third-grade teacher Lisa Williams supervised as a trio of eighth-graders taught her class the three different types of rocks — one of the third-grade science standards.
“Being outside like this obviously adds a whole element ... especially when those science standards are nature-based,” Williams said from under her straw hat. “We’ve talked about it already in class, but what they’re doing is helping reinforce what we’ve already talked about.”
“It’s better than sitting in a classroom,” eighth-grader Amber Beatty said as she walked among tables of elementary students painting rocks. “They can be more creative.”
At another table, students pinched between their fingers small parts of birds such as feathers, claws and skulls regurgitated by owls. Victor Scott and Joey Angelo had the students record the size of the owl pellets, their color and their contents.
Some stations also had special guests, including the Beaver Creek Wildlife Education Center in Columbiana County.
Dan Vargo, from the center, dangled a light-red corn snake over a fourth-grader’s head. As the snake’s tongue whipped in and out of its mouth, Vargo told students the snake was smelling.
“Watch; he’s trying to smell you,” Vargo told a student. “He can tell. He’s got to be in fourth grade.”
“It’s a very friendly snake,” Jim Kerr, the center’s curator, said while standing by a row of stuffed mammals native to Ohio.
Kerr tells students that if they encounter wildlife, leave it alone.