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Sanfordville PIE students visit WVHS STEM Museum

Sanfordville Elementary School students make music with glasses of water during a STEM Museum hosted by WVHS AP Calculus students.

Sanfordville Elementary students in the PIE 3-4 program had fun with six hands-on exhibits. They visited a STEM Museum on June 1, hosted by students in Warwick Valley High School teacher Lisa Howard’s AP Calculus class at the Warwick Valley High School library.

The science-based stations featured engaging components such as lava lamps, musical glasses, and secret messages. At each location, the high school students explained the science behind the activity before leading the younger students through hands-on experiments.

See a gallery from the STEM museum below this story!

One station aimed to put the “A” for art back in STEM, making it STEAM, by making music with glasses of colored water. The glasses were filled to different heights. When students moved their fingers around the rims, they produced different sounds. Glasses with more water created larger sound waves and a lower sound.

Another highlight was the lava lamp experiment, where students mixed oil, water, food coloring, and Alka-Seltzer tablets in small jars to make lamps they could take home.

When the fizzy tablet is added to the oil-and-water mixture, bubbles attach to water droplets and cause them to rise. When the bubbles pop, the water drops back down. The process then starts again.

Building on the theme of chemical reactions, fizzy tablets were also used at another station featuring soda. First, the PIE students observed as the high schoolers poured soda and oil into a cup. When Mentos were added, the oil layer prevented the bubbles from overflowing. However, when Mentos were dropped directly into a bottle of soda without oil, the bubbles fizzed over the top, as expected.

In addition to science activities, PIE students exercised their engineering skills by building towers from spaghetti sticks and marshmallows. Meanwhile, high school students at another station shared the history of the ballista, an ancient Roman siege weapon, and presented a demonstration. PIE students then used stored energy in a rubber band to launch small pom-pom balls at a target.

A group of students stands in a circle in the foreground, listening to a speaker, while a library or classroom setting with bookshelves and other people is visible in the background.
Children and a teacher observe colorful liquids in glasses on a table, with a bright, modern classroom in the background.
A young boy in safety goggles pours liquid from a red cup into a jar on a table, while in the background, a person in a lab coat supervises other students in a classroom.
A young boy in safety goggles looks at a science experiment in a jar on a table, with blurred figures in the background.
A woman gestures while speaking to a group of children gathered around a table with drinks, with bookshelves lining the background of a classroom.
Five children watch a soda bottle erupt in a metal tray on a table in the foreground, with bookshelves filled with books in the background.
Three young boys lean over a table, intently observing colorful liquid experiments in plastic cups, with a blurred background suggesting an indoor learning environment.
Two young girls lean in to observe two plastic cups filled with liquids and dark solids, with a blurred background of bookshelves.
In the foreground, two young men are demonstrating a science project on a table, while in the background, a group of children watch attentively in a classroom.
A Warwick Valley High School student demonstrates how to shoot an object with a rubber band.
A young boy in a blue t-shirt demonstrates something with his fingers to a group of attentive children in a classroom setting.
Three boys in the foreground are working together on a project at a table, while bookshelves are visible in the blurred background.
Three young girls collaborate on a STEM project with marshmallows and spaghetti in the foreground, while other students and bookshelves are visible in the blurred background.
A young man in a purple shirt guides three girls in building a spaghetti and marshmallow tower on a hexagonal table, with bookshelves and a laptop visible in the background.
Children in the foreground are engaged in a science experiment at a table, while a teacher supervises them in a library setting with bookshelves in the background.
A young girl in a white sweatshirt pours a substance into a cup in the foreground, while a group of children and adults gather around tables and bookshelves in the background.
Two young girls with red hair are focused on a science experiment at a table, with bookshelves filled with books in the background.
A young girl in a striped sweater holds up a card with %22ADDISON%22 written on it, with a blurred classroom in the background.