A girl took a look at a dissected pig’s heart and bladder displayed on a classroom table. “Ooo, gross!” she said.
A boy followed her into the classroom and examined other dissected animals. “Oh, awesome!” he said.
There was something for everyone – or not — at a recent East Oakview Elementary School “science night” put on by the Parent Teacher Committee. The second annual event featured a live python, animal skulls and science demonstrations. Staff and volunteers from John Ball Zoo helped out, as did science students from Northview and Comstock Park high schools. Kohl’s also sent volunteers and contributed $500.
Sarah Weber, the PTC secretary/treasurer and a science teacher at Comstock Park High School, said the idea was to interest East Oakview students in science while more deeply engaging high school students in their studies.
“It’s kind of a win-win for everybody,” Weber said.
“We don’t get enough chance to teach science in the elementary schools, so this is a great thing,” added Principal Jerry Klekotka, a former science teacher.
Nine classrooms featured different activities. In the dissection room, first-grader Leah Murphy peered through a microscope at a grasshopper. “He has such big eyes!” she exclaimed.
In other rooms, students saw minor miracles of science such as isopropyl alcohol being burned off a bill without the money burning.
Fourth-grader Brianna Kulfan ran her fingers over a coyote skull, a snowy owl foot and a boa constrictor’s skin. She was not grossed out in the least. “It was really cool,” she said afterward. “I like feeling the textures on all the things.”
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