LAWRENCE: Robots, eyeballs and more invade school

Kids explore technology, biology and physics and more at annual school science night

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Jack Lazelle and Evan Thomas were checking out the booths at the Lawrenceville Elementary School’s annual “hands-on” science and discovery night Friday.
    An adult who was minding one of the exhibits asked the boys whether they had visited the “eye” booth. They said they had not, and he told them that it was pretty interesting. There were some eyes at the booth they could touch.
    Jack and Evan looked at each, and their eyes widened. The two 10-year-olds raced down to the booth, which offered a diagram of how the eye works as well as samples of optometrists’ lenses.
    And, of course, the pigs’ eyes.
    The boys slipped on plastic, disposable gloves. Evan picked up a handful of eyes in the palm of his hand and rolled them around. Jack stood next to him, a slightly queasy expression on his face.
    “The eyeballs felt moist through my glove,” Evan said after he put them down. “They were squishy. You could feel the oil in your hand.”
    Jack said the eyeballs felt “very creepy.” They were slimy and wet, he said.
    LES’ annual science and discovery night is a popular event, said event co-Chairwomen Wendy Ankener and Darby McChesney. The purpose is to expose children to science in a hands-on way through demonstrations, they said.
    “We are really lucky. We have a lot of parents who work in the scientific community. We have asked for volunteers to work in the event,” Ms. McChesney said. The event has been held for about a dozen years.
    The children had a range of booths they could visit — from “Putty in Your Hands” — in which children mix Elmer’s Glue, water and a borax solution to form putty — to “It’s Electric,” where children could build electrical circuits and power a light bulb.
    Another popular booth was “Off to the Races,” which demonstrates Newton’s third law of physics — for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Children made balloon-powered cars. After they inflated the balloons, they allowed the air to escape, which, in turn, pushed the cars on the floor.
    Across the hall from the multipurpose room, Lawrence Patrolman David Dalle Pazze showed the children how he collects evidence at crime scenes.
    “My job is a little bit different (from other police officers’ jobs),” Patrolman Dalle Pazze told the children. “When I get there, the bad guys have already gone. I’m looking for clues — what we also call evidence.”
    Patrolman Dalle Pazze showed the children — and their equally attentive parents — how he used magnetic powder to lift invisible fingerprints from a piece of paper and transfer them to a piece of Scotch tape.
    Around the corner in the school’s library, the youngsters could operate a robot. Using two joysticks, the children were able to open up the robot’s arms so it could hold a giant rubber ball on a platform. The children raised the platform and released the ball.
    Ms. Ankener said she is “always amazed” that the parents turn out and support the event. The event could not be successful without the parents, and especially those who volunteer to set up booths highlighting their own areas of expertise, she said.
    “Even if the children walk away with one question in their minds, the event is a success,” Ms. Ankener said.