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Feature article

Energy Fair lights up kids’ day

Article and pictures by Tammy Lane
January 25, 2008

Take about 250 schoolchildren, add 15 or so assorted gee-whiz demonstrations, mix well, and you have the formula for a successful Energy Fair.

Students from Russell Cave, Linlee, Mary Todd and Johnson elementary schools checked out more than a dozen exhibits at Wednesday’s Energy Fair on the UK campus. View a slideshow of more pictures from the Energy Fair.

  Students from Johnson, Linlee, Mary Todd and Russell Cave elementary schools trekked to the University of Kentucky campus for Wednesday’s half-day fair, which featured displays by energy-related organizations from both inside and outside the university.
  One of the more popular exhibitors was by Touchstone Energy, which explained the concept of kinetic energy using live reptiles.
  “It didn’t bother me,” 10-year-old Donnie Cross said matter-of-factly after a corn snake was draped around his neck. The Mary Todd fourth-grader declared the creature merely “scaly.”
  The university’s Center for Applied Energy Research organized the Energy Fair, which was held in UK’s Student Center.
  The exhibits, many of which were interactive, ran the gamut: One highlighted the dangers of electricity in a mini-city display, one let the kids ride a stationary bike to power light bulbs, one explained composting (complete with worms!), and another, recycling.
  Russell Cave Elementary School student Kaitlin Brown was most excited about a turtle on display. After all, she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.
  “It shows you a better picture of what it’s actually like,” Kaitlin, 10, explained. “You can touch it and feel it.”
  Fellow fourth-grader Jordon White said he especially enjoyed the snakes, but he also liked the electricity demonstrations.
  “It’s fun and it’s educational,” Jordon said of the Energy Fair. “We got to play with magnetic cars and see how the force moved them around.”
  Lori Bowen, science specialist for Fayette County Public Schools, said before the event that she hoped students would find a “level of engagement” with such concepts as heat, light and electricity. “They need to understand from a different, hands-on perspective.”
  And thanks to the goodies that students took home, organizers hope the learning will continue in classroom experiments. For example, they can study “forces in motion” by rolling their UK basketballs along the floor at different speeds.
  The idea for the Energy Fair grew out of CAER’s six-year partnership with Russell Cave Elementary, which is about five minutes away from the energy lab on Iron Works Pike. UK scientists at CAER regularly lead demonstrations at the school, but hoped the fair would help them reach even more students.
  “If these kids have been so exposed to science at an early age that they’re not scared of it, then in middle school they’ll think, ‘Oh, this is kinda cool,’” said Marybeth McAlister, CAER’s communications manager.
  A workshop last August with about two dozen area teachers spawned the idea for the Energy Fair.
    “It’s really a two-way street in that our scientists enjoy working with the students,” said Rodney Andrews, director of CAER. “At this age, it’s easy to capture their attention, and hopefully that will carry through” their educational experience.
  As soon as they stepped on the bus Wednesday morning, the students knew the Energy Fair would be no ordinary field trip. That’s because UK had rented coach buses, complete with televisions, to pick them up at school, so the kids got to watch DVDs about energy during the rides to and from campus.
  Once in the Student Center’s grand ballroom, the students rotated among the half-hour opening presentation, the demonstrations and the exhibits, with lunch built into the day’s staggered schedules.
  One hope was that if the children connected with a particular exhibitor, their teacher might arrange for a more detailed lesson later.
  “It gives us teachers a link to professionals who will come out to classrooms to do further demonstrations,” said Beth Hathaway, a fourth-grade teacher at Mary Todd Elementary.
  Talking with professionals in their field helps the children connect with energy-related lessons. “It gives them an opportunity to see and do things not available in the classroom,” Hathaway added.
  Among Wednesday’s exhibitors were the Arboretum, which brought several worm-composting bins; Bluegrass PRIDE, which focused on drafts and home insulation; and Bluegrass Community and Technical College, whose stations included tornado tubes and a magnet board. Exhibitors from UK’s Engineering Department explained greenhouse gasses and snap circuits, while CAER scientists showed the students how to make batteries and demonstrated combustion through an invisible ink experiment.
  Most of the participating organizations already have community outreach programs, so it was not hard to line them up for the Energy Fair, McAlister said. It was just a matter of bringing them all together in one place.
  Andrews said CAER hopes the Energy Fair can become an annual event for Fayette County schoolchildren. “We need to find a way to get people excited about working in math and science,” he said.

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