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MANVILLE: A study in marshmallow modeling

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
Students experiment to make strongest structures using candy and toothpicks
   Building with toothpicks and marshmallows doesn’t make for the strongest of structures, but Weston School third-graders experimented with combinations of toothpick-and-marshmallow configurations to find the most stable during the school’s annual Math and Science Day on Friday.
   Students tweaked their designs to make stable towers stand unassisted.
   ”The main thing is physics, and understanding what makes structures strong,” Paul Gallagher, the third-grade teacher leading the activity, said. “It’s a lot of problem-solving skills.
   ”Eventually, they figure out that they need diagonals to brace it and they need a wide base.” The school day was dedicated to letting the students act as scientists in a lab, making discoveries as they experimented.
   ”They get a little sticky, get a little dirty,” Mr. Gallagher said. “It’s a nice break from what you’d consider an average school day. The really enjoy the challenge of it, too.”
   The teachers in each grade run science-based activities during the first half of Math and Science Day, and the students spend 40 minutes on an activity before moving to the next one.
   ”They’re learning how to be scientists, how to experiment,” kindergarten teacher Rachel Tomson said. “. . . That’s the best thing about science. You explore to learn more things.”
   The day lets the kindergarten classes perform in-depth experiments, something the young students don’t often do, Ms. Tomson added.
   Math and Science Day and the school’s science fair fills Weston School’s requirement to teach “real-life” applications of the two subjects, second-grade teacher and event organizer Laura Landau said.
   In addition to donations from the Manville Education Association and Weston Parent-Teacher Association, students from the high school’s National Honor Society help with the activities.
   The high school students act as teachers, often leading the younger students and giving individual attention, Ms. Landau said.
   Students also participated in the Math-A-Thon, with 16 students from each grade answering math questions relating to material covered in class during a game show-like event. Students receive points for each correct answer, and the student earning the most points.