Science Festival Teaches STEAM, Perseverance

While Hendersonville Elementary students learned about the forces of motion and geometry Friday, high schoolers got a refresher on childlike perseverance.

At the elementary school’s Duke Energy Science Festival on Friday, 15 high school students from Henderson County Early College facilitated a dozen Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) stations for the younger students.

“I took the lesson plans out to them last week so they could familiarize themselves with them,” said Susan Newman, HES’ math and STEAM specialist. “They all came in this morning excited to be here.”

The Duke Energy Science Festival is just one of the school’s most recent exploratory events in STEAM education, and is also considered an official 2018 North Carolina Science Festival event. Sponsored by Duke Energy, Newman said all the materials – save for a couple rolls of tape – were provided by the company.

“They sent me this huge box full of supplies,” she said. “It was wonderful.”

In one corner of Hendersonville Elementary’s gym, senior Emma C. was helping students build parachutes out of napkins, string, and paperclips, as they witnessed the properties of gravity and drag.

Early College senior Allison H. assisted kindergarten teacher Becky Schandevel in reviewing the differences between two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes, as kindergarteners constructed models out of toothpicks and marshmallows.

As one student held up his creation, Schandevel said, “You made a square! How can you make it into a cube?”

In another corner of the gym, students constructed boats out of tinfoil and tested their designs’ sturdiness by placing marbles in the boats as they floated, while another group checked out the properties of soapy water and geometry by blowing heaps of bubbles.

His hands full of Styrofoam and tape, Early College freshman Tanner Q. was helping a group of young students construct marble roller coasters. As a few students struggled to find the arc of the coaster that would land their marble into a dish on the floor, Tanner said that while they were learning about science, they were teaching him a few things.

“I love it. I can learn a lot from them,” he said. “I’m learning to never give up, because at their age, they’re so determined.”

– By Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Public Information Officer