Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
LaCrosse students get a lesson in gravity during the ice skating portion of the Science on Ice field trip.
Students experiment and record results with hockey pucks launched from slingshots.
How does an ice skater spin? What is friction and how does it work? What is the difference between regular ice and dry ice?
LaCrosse fifth through eighth graders now have a better understanding of the answers to those questions after a visit to the Palouse Ice Rink in Moscow for a Science on Ice field trip.
"We had a grand time," said Leanne Bafus, LaCrosse fifth grade teacher.
Bafus has been wanting to take students on the science trip for years. She finally signed up through the ice rink's website. Due to snow days, they had to reschedule from the original date, but were finally able to make the trip.
Bafus had the school's blessing to pay for the experience when they arrived, but was pleasantly informed the day was free thanks to sponsors Meter Group, Inc., TerraGraphics International Foundation and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. The only payment required from the schools is thank you notes to the supporting corporations.
There were three parts to the program: properties of water, Newton's Second Law of Motion and rotational motion in action. In fifth grade the students study matter and its different forms of gas, liquid and solid, and in eighth grade they learn about Newton's Laws.
Experiments for the Newton's Second Law included shooting weighted pucks with slingshots and discussing the results. An ice skater came out to demonstrate angular momentum and how speed in a spin can be increased or decreased.
After the about two-hour program, it was time to strap on the skates and take a few lessons before students were able to skate.
"Most of my kids have never been on ice skates," Bafus noted. All students also wore helmets while skating.
One thing taught before going out on the ice was how to fall to land on your hip and how to get up using your hands. Bafus confessed she was able to demonstrate those techniques when she fell while holding a Chromebook to take pictures. She landed properly without any harm to the Chromebook device.
Bafus recalled the skating was not only a fun experience for the kids, but it also gave some of them a confidence boost to be able to do it so well the first time.
At the end of the day, students were able to watch the Zamboni machine smooth the ice, erasing the signs of their friction, force and fun for now. Students were all given a free pass to come back and skate again.
"It was so fabulous," Bafus said. She intends to continue taking students to the event, possibly only her fifth grade class combined with students from other schools instead of multiple grades.
Jana Mathia is a reporter at the Whitman County Gazette.
Reader Comments(0)