By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

Fourth- and fifth-graders at Van Buren Elementary School are midway through a nine-week after-school STEM program, and the next session of the program is already full. Each Thursday at 3:45 p.m., students gather under the supervision of teachers Sarah Parrish and Wendy Creno to apply what they’ve learned about science and math to creating fun devices and games.

“It’s basic science that we’re doing here, but they love it,” Parrish said.

Last week, the kids designed roller coasters with foam tubing, masking tape and marbles. While it didn’t feel like schoolwork, the students were applying what they have learned about physics principles such as speed, momentum and centrifugal force.

“It’s fun and they don’t realize how much they know and how much they apply,” said VBE Principal Danielle Nahorney.

Kenny Hotchkiss, a fifth-grader, said he is used to learning formulas and taking tests in his regular science classes. “In this, we’re just having fun,” he said.

Kenny and his team, which included fellow fifth-graders Teygan St. John and Jayden Miranda and fourth-grader Zach Woods, worked to perfect their roller coaster.

“We’ve got to have extra support,” Teygan advised his teammates as they taped the start of their coaster to the wall. “We don’t want it to go flappity-flappity-flap.”

Students learned to start their “coaster cars” — marbles — from the top of a hill so the cars could gain momentum and make it around the coaster’s loops. Centrifugal force keeps the cars on the curve of the track and away from the center of the loop, preventing them from falling.

“They’re able to apply the same skills that they’re learning in science and math class in a real-world way,” Nahorney said.

Teygan, who said science is his favorite subject in school, said he is learning “what scientists do every day.”

“It opens up some occupations for us,” Kenny said, noting engineering as an example.

Parrish said the first week of the after-school program focused on kinetic and potential energy. Students built marshmallow catapults out of Popsicle sticks. The second week, they made bouncy balls out of custard powder and glue to study polymers, or macromolecules made up of many similar, repeating units.

“Everything we’re doing is connected to units we study in fourth or fifth grade,” Parrish said.

In addition to applying their STEM skills, the students are meeting kids from different grade levels and learning to work together.

“It also makes them curious and interested,” Parrish said.