By Lori BODNAR

Hundreds of students and families filled the auditorium and courtyard at Mountain Avenue Elementary on February 3 to enjoy the first in-person Science Fun Fair Family Night since the pandemic. Nearly 200 students showcased their science fair projects to schoolmates, teachers, families and friends.

In addition to the science fair projects, 53 sixth grade students raced their paper roller coasters at Family Night. The students worked in teams for over two weeks at recess to engineer paper coaster marble runs that were built from cardstock paper, tape, and foam board base to compete for the “Longest Ride”. The winning coaster, “Messi World’s Cup” made by Jacob Rodriguez, James Christie and Nico Gutierrez-Bravo kept a marble rolling continuously for 38 seconds. The “Best Theme” winning coaster was made by students Christian Moon, H. Micah Kim and Tommy Hong. Their “Jurassic Coaster” incorporated a dinosaur, volcano and a red rising phoenix.

“Sounds Like Science” was the theme for the Science Fun Fair and Family Night this year that included science activities that explored sound, such as a theremin (a musical instrument played without touching it), Chladni plates (metal plates that reveal sound oscillations from sand patterns) and an ultrasonic machine that could levitate Styrofoam balls in midair in the nodes of the acoustic wave. There was also an instrument to measure distance using sound, and a vacuum chamber with a ringing clock to demonstrate how sound can’t be heard in a vacuum.

In one room, kids could play unusual instruments like thunder tubes, palm pipes, boomwhackers, tuning forks and a steel drum.

Another room had sound-related arts-and-crafts activities such as making a kazoo, a cup-a-phone, or rice and bean shakers. People could also listen to their heart with stethoscopes and learn more about how hearts and ears work from models of both.

In the open courtyard there were giant slinkies to explore types of waves, as well as whistling sound tubes. A crowd favorite was the ball-launching robot brought by Team 589 Falkon Robotics from Crescenta Valley High School (CVHS). The robot launched basketballs into the hands of excited kids.

“I like Falkon Robotics because I can be part of something bigger, a huge system of different parts: communication, electronics system, software and making the ultimate product. At first, I joined Robotics because it looked [fun], but the people are great and robotics is fun. We don’t just build good robots, we build good people,” said Joseph Kim, CVHS sophomore.

“I first joined Falkon Robotics because of Lego League at Mountain Avenue and it was so much fun. I had a busy schedule at first and the Falkon Robotics community helped with [handling] stress,” said Mahesh Arunachalam, CVHS junior.

CVHS Academy of Science and Medicine student volunteers ran science activities at the event including a Van de Graaf generator that literally caused students’ hair to stand on end through the repulsion of like charges.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) also had 14 volunteer scientists come to engage the elementary students in a variety of science activities ranging from the computer science behind Pokémon to astronomy.

“The activities were all made by Caltech students in computer science education in K-12 settings. They learned about the science of how to teach students and explain the topics they are learning to an elementary school student. The activities we have are themed around Pokémon Programming such as Catch ‘Em All, Power Up Pokémon, Help the Pokémon Center, and Program Pikachu,” said Claire Ralph, Caltech Computing and Mathematical Sciences Lecturer.

Students lined up by the dozens to be run over by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Mars Rover, maneuvered by parent volunteer and JPL scientist Liz Johnson.

“The Mars Rover felt like a spider and was a lot of fun,” said Ali Moore, sixth grader.

“The PTA Science Fair brings our school community together and highlights the amazing learning of our students. I am incredibly appreciative to the Science Fair Committee of volunteers for organizing this beautiful event. There were different sound-making devices as well as professional scientists and engineers to share their work. We are so appreciative of our partners from Caltech and JPL for sharing their knowledge with our students and families,” said Mountain Avenue Principal Jaclyn Scott. “What makes our science fair so special are the hands-on activities to experience. This year, the projects were excellent.”

The Science Fun Fair organizers include Jackie Bodnar, Meena Arunachalam, Jessica Escobar and Euncheol Shin. After 14 years as co-chair for the science fair Bodnar said this was her last year.

“Science Fair benefits the community because it piques the interest of the students. Books are a way to learn but this hands-on experience also helps the students’ creativity. We don’t judge the science fair, but for the roller coasters, we have Best Theme and Longest Ride,” Arunachalam added.

“I think the science fair really benefits the community by encouraging families to work together on things that will inspire their growth and interest in science. Our daughter made a volcano for her science fair project. All of us, including her younger brother got in on the fun,” Escobar said.

Almost 200 students did science fair projects, including volcanos, experimenting with oobleck, the study of different animal sounds, dissolving gummy bears, hot air balloons, fossil trilobites and microscopes.

“The kids enjoyed interacting with the robots from the CV Robotics team, racing the sixth grade paper rollercoasters and crafts which included making their own instruments using toilet paper rolls and rubber bands. The night ended with the traditional 2-story high soda geyser created from mixing Diet Coke and Mentos candy,” Escobar said.

The Coke Mentos soda geyser topped off the night. Everyone had a tremendous time and learned more about science.

  Lori BODNAR