Science lab helps make learning fun

Samantha Martin and three fourth-grade classmates pondered the challenge before them.

Their mission: Roll a marble down a foam track. The marble would need to go over a hill formed in the track and keep rolling until it landed in a plastic cup at the end.

If they pulled this off, the four girls would have demonstrated such scientific concepts as potential energy, kinetic energy and gravity.

The marble began its plunge. It navigated the hill without jumping the track. It came to a halt with a satisfying smack against the back of the cup.

"Yes, we did it!" 10-year-old Samantha shouted.

Score one for the young scientists, who were taking advantage of a new feature at Seven Oaks Elementary.

The school has transformed one of its portable classrooms into a science laboratory where students can temporarily put away their textbooks and focus on hands-on learning.

Principal B.J. Smith said the raucous activity in the lab - noisy but focused on the experiment - sends the message that the school is on the right track.

"Do you think they would be that excited if they were reading out of books?" Smith asked as she observed teacher Susan McKenna's fourth-grade students use the lab for their energy and gravity experiments.

The Seven Oaks science lab is a work in progress. Just recently, the school added a sink in one corner, which should help expand the kinds of experiments students and teachers can try when they visit.

The staff is reviewing what other items the school might need to stock in the lab.

Science labs are a routine fixture in middle schools and high schools, but not so in elementary schools. With Florida urging schools to put a greater emphasis on science, Seven Oaks decided to create its own.

The portable classroom also doubles as a writing computer lab.

"It's a great facility," McKenna said.

Especially, she said, with the addition of the sink, which is ready to be put to use at any time.

Students said they enjoy their visits to the science lab.

"I think it's really, really fun," Abigail Payne, 9, said.

"More than fun, it's awesome," Samantha said.

"We get to do cool experiments," Taylor Rubenstein, 10, said.

A few weeks ago, McKenna's class visited the lab to make lava lamps. On a more recent visit, she and the students plunged into their experiments with the marbles and the miniature roller coasters they created by slicing foam pipe insulation in two.

McKenna, helped by instructional assistant Maria Pita, divided the class into several teams and gave the students a series of challenges. They had to put a loop in their tracks and then two loops. Each time, the marble needed to make it around the loops and safely into the cup without flying off the track.

The students couldn't give the marble a push to make it go faster. It was up to gravity to cause that to happen. The students quickly learned that a higher elevation at the start gave the marble extra speed.

Soon time was up, but McKenna teased her students with a preview of coming attractions. The next time they visited the science lab the teams would connect their tracks and create one large roller coaster.

That should suit Maya Rivera, 9, just fine. She's always up for another visit to the lab.

"I pretty much like it," Maya said. "It's the best thing we can do here, besides recess."