Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010

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The annual Energy Fair, hosted by the University of Kentucky, has enabled hundreds of FCPS fourth-graders to see science up close.

For the third year in a row, UK scientists and community presenters dazzled Fayette County elementary children with Energy Fair demonstrations and hands-on activities. In addition this time, a handful of seventh-graders showcased their own projects in the University of Kentucky’s Student Center.  

“I love the idea of middle school science winners teaching fourth-graders what they have learned about energy,” said Marybeth McAlister of UK’s Center for Applied Energy Research, which organizes the event.  

The Energy Fair grew out of the group’s ongoing partnership with Russell Cave Elementary, which is five minutes away from the energy lab on Iron Works Pike. UK scientists at the center hoped a fair would help them reach even more students. And it has.

About 250 kids from Ashland, Harrison, Millcreek and William Wells Brown elementary schools roamed through the exhibits one day this week – drawn to various experiments as well as a solar car designed by UK students.

One table featured a row of small, clear containers filled with common foods like corn. Aubrey Shea from the university’s Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department explained how feedstock is turned into ethanol.

“We don’t just eat food,” she told the kids. “We can change it into different kinds of energy.”

At the opposite end of the grand ballroom, four seventh-grade boys set up their school science projects and fielded questions from the younger students.

One poster-board display illustrated the effects of different wavelengths on the solar panel. In his basement at home, Zachary Byrd of Morton Middle School had put four colored liquids under a lamp and taken readings with a volt meter.

“It shows how much energy is being absorbed by the liquids,” he said.

While the fourth-graders found the volt meter fascinating, they might not have fully grasped Zachary’s scientific conclusions. But that’s OK.

“They’re just getting into it,” he said. “It gives them an idea of how they’re going to do stuff.”

A trio from SCAPA Bluegrass – Bram Coffey, Wolfe Casals and Michael Takahashi – also shared their projects with the kids.

“I wanted to know which type of insulation was better,” said Bram, who lined two cardboard boxes with recycled newspaper and cottony pink fiber glass.

While Wolfe explained why the middle-sized of three wheels was the fastest for his skateboard, Michael’s display on metal densities was a bit trickier for fourth-graders to understand.  

“Basically, you tell them one thing at a time and explain things one by one,” Michael said.

The boys hoped their ideas would encourage the younger kids to push themselves to explore science and launch their own experiments.

“It’ll give them some more confidence,” Zachary said. “It’ll get them off and running.”

For more information about the annual Energy Fair, contact Marybeth McAlister with UK’s Center for Applied Energy Research at mcalister@caer.uky.edu or (859) 257-0224.