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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Dianna Perrico was set up at the science station to teach the students about animal bones and skulls during Canfield Village Middle School’s STEM Day. PTA volunteer Carrie Pasquale assisted Perrico at the science station.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.A group of Canfield Village Middle School fifth-graders attempted to build a self-supporting bridge out of blocks and metal plates during the school’s STEM Day.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.A group of Canfield Village Middle School fifth-grade students completed the task of guiding a laser through a maze during the school’s STEM Day on May 21.
By ABBY SLANKER
Fifth-grade students at Canfield Village Middle School participated in two days of STEM activities during which they experienced hands-on experiments and were exposed to a variety of STEM fields May 21-22. The event was sponsored by Canfield PTA.
Five stations were set up by parent volunteers for the students to visit and learn about science, technology, engineering and math.
Dianna Perrico was set up at the science station to teach the students about animal bones and skulls. The students could pick up and examine the bones and discuss them with Perrico.
The math station was manned by Bill Stilson, retired Austintown Fitch teacher, who instructed the students to use two cubes to calculate the volume of a life-size box.
The engineering station was set up by Dave Harris of DPH Architecture of Canfield, and his wife Mandy. At this station, the children were tasked with building a self-supporting bridge out of blocks and metal plates.
The technology station was set up and manned by Ralph Perrico where he taught the students medical technology and asked the students to match medical terminology. Perrico also had medical instruments such as stethoscopes for the children to try out.
The final station was a combination of science and engineering, at which students attempted to guide a laser through a maze. Mike Palotsee and Jen Smallwood helped the students meet their goal of getting the laser though the maze and lighting up the completion signal. Mike Crescimanno helped with the station by contributing optics, lights and sounds.
Dave Wilkeson served as the chairperson for the STEM days.
“There is some really cool stuff here. These students are veterans of STEM from elementary school. In the younger grades, they are all interested in everything. They are more attracted to things. As they get older, the kids’ levels of interest varies. They are not as interested in everything, so we wanted to give them stations which were a bit more elevated and something they would be interested in. We hope to expand it next year when these students are in sixth grade and to keep going with them in seventh and eighth grade,” Wilkeson said.
Wilkeson said the fifth-grade teachers helped the STEM committee come up with ideas for stations.
“The fifth-grade teachers were a big help. They let us know what the students were learning about in class and that helped up create the stations. A lot of people were involved to make this happen,” Wilkeson said.