NORTH BENNINGTON — The Village School of North Bennington recently held their first STEM Night – a change from the past.

“We switched from a science fair to STEM this year,” explained Sherry Schwarz, admissions and advancement coordinator at the Village School. The school decided to make the switch to open up the range of projects.

"STEM Night is all about developing critical thinking skills for the students,” said Head of School Tim Newbold. “A lot of what we do is designed to bring out their natural curiosity and love of learning."

One group of students studied adaptation, and the evolution of traits in relation to birds’ beaks. They found that the shape and size of the beak is just one form of adaptation that allows different species to survive in a given environment.

By understanding the evolution of dominant traits, the students learned about Charles Darwin’s natural selection. Those species better able to gather food in an environment, thrived and flourished – while those with challenges did not. Additionally, they learned that the size and shape of bird beaks varied by both food source and environment.

“They are allowed to ask questions that help them to understand the how and the why of the world around them,” Newbold said, as he explained the learning process. “Through research, exploration, and experimentation they uncover answers that hopefully lead to more questions and a love of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

Another group of students, including Sojourner and Kelsey, studied tectonic plates. Often referred to as the unifying theory of geology, tectonic plates make up the lithosphere of the surface of the Earth.

Smushing frosting beneath graham crackers, Sojourner and Kelsey were demonstrating the various forms of interaction between tectonic plates to the guests of the event.

“This is really fun, and we’ve represented it with the messiest thing possible,” laughed Sojourner, holding up her sticky fingers. “This is a divergent boundary, which is where two tectonic plates move away from each other. And, this is a convergent boundary, where two plates move together – and that usually creates volcanoes and mountains. And, then, this is a transform boundary where plates slide past each other.”

Sojourner added that new lithosphere is formed as a result of a divergent boundary (as two plates pull away from one another, new magma rises to the surface and hardens) and a convergent boundary (as two plates come together to form mountains), but not by a transform boundary. She also noted that all three types of plate tectonics are capable of producing earthquakes.

Pointing to the map of tectonic plates, Sojourner said, “All of these are the plates.”

She ran her finger along the plate boundaries. “So, you might not see it, but there are tectonic plates underneath the ocean, too – and they’re called oceanic plates. These marks are the destructive boundaries, here – and this is the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire – that’s actually quite scary because that’s where a lot of volcanoes are.”

Sojourner pointed out Japan, Eastern China, and the Philippines – and then ran her finger along the plate boundaries to the western coast of Alaska and Canada – as she stated that this was a very active geographical region. 90% of all earthquakes and 75% of all volcanic activity occurs along this subduction zone as the tectonic plates overlap at convergent boundaries.

“We are using graham crackers, frosting, Twix, and food dye to demonstrate how the plates move,” said Kelsey, Sojourner’s partner in the project. “It’s a little messy, but this is a better example.” Kelsey illustrated what happens with divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries. She also pointed out what would be volcanic activity, as the frosting pressed up through a hole in the graham cracker.

Schoolmates Avery and Gabby were showing off their solar eclipse education project.

“With the eclipse, and all, Gabby and I thought we should do a solar eclipse model,” said Avery, pointing to two different hands-on simulation models that the team built. One was a sliding model that illustrated a total eclipse. Behind her, a classmate experimented with the second model, which involved a dark box, a simulated sun, and a moving moon.

“We’re not in the line of totality, but here we’re going to have 97%,” said Avery. “And, here we have a model – the moon is in just the right place and is blocking the sun all the way. So, that’s called the umbra.” Avery pointed to the map where the black track of the umbra was shown. “That’s the line of totality.”

“But, right here is called the penumbra.” She pointed to the gray area next to the line of totality, as she added that this was where the moon would appear smaller and would not completely cover the sun. “We’re in this area, so we’re seeing a partial eclipse.”

The second simulation model that Avery had created was designed to teach the public about the various types of eclipses. Inside the dark box was a simulated sun. On the left hand side of the box, the viewer could control a moving moon. Combined, these elements illustrated the effects of an annular eclipse, a partial eclipse, and a total eclipse – depending on how the moon was situated.

“You can slowly move the moon over the sun to see what a solar eclipse would look like,” Avery said. “I thought that, since it’s going to be a little harder for the little kids to understand – because they won’t understand – that we should give them this model and show them. Give them a real hands-on demonstration.”

Avery, a fourth grader, added that her other classmates had also been busy.

“Sloane and Jenny, they built a big Roman Colosseum to show how triangles give buildings more structure. And, another person did a marble mayhem thing. Enso built one and actually Milo built another and they were seeing which one will go fastest. So, those are some examples from my classmates,” she said.

Enso was busy creating an experience of his own for the visitors to the STEM Night event. He was timing the path of the marbles through the two mazes. In the run that he was timing, from start to finish, Enso’s maze took 17 seconds exactly and Milo’s maze took 17 seconds and 62 milliseconds. This was not always the case but – on average – Enso’s maze seemed to be just slightly faster, despite the fact that they appeared to be built with the same number of pieces and parts.

Enso theorized that the faster maze was due to gravity and momentum, as it had a more precipitous drop at the start. “This slowed it down the most,” he said, indicating the funnel-like device where the marble spun around and around before entering a hole in the maze.

One of the interesting stations involved magnets. Another involved tiddlywinks. One was doing a float or sink experiment, and another was involved in showcasing a geology project. John Ulrich, who teaches second grade, was explaining his coloring project that was based on percentages.

“He does this project on mixing colors,” explained Schwarz, looking at the tables that were covered with clear cups of brilliant and vibrantly colored water, charts, and color wheels – and math. “The students love mixing the colors, and then they learn about charting, measurements, and percentages.”

The fifth and sixth graders did reports and posters on famous historical figures who specialized in one of the STEM fields. Of course, Leonard da Vinci was among them, and that project was created by two students. One introduced himself as Finn; the other – with a grin – introduced himself as Labron James, but his real name was Owen.

“We learned a lot, and one of my favorite things we learned was that he didn’t even go to school. He also invented the crossbow," said Finn.

“He made a double hull, and it’s one of the best ships in the world,” said Owen. Da Vinci’s double hull ship design was instrumental in building defense vessels for maritime use.

The third graders, taught by Ms. Hamm, learned about cloud science – and focused some of the STEM projects on saturation, with students learning about weather, moisture, pressure, and the role of the barometer.

“We’re measuring how much water a cloud can hold,” explained Julian and Sam. “And, we’re measuring how much moisture it takes before it is saturated – and it rains. The sponge represents the cloud and we’re saturating it with this water. How many spoonfuls it takes, before it rains.” The pair were engaging the visitors in a guessing game, asking them to predict the number of spoonfuls it took to reach saturation.

Chayse was chasing cars around the floor. “We’re seeing which one goes faster – which one is fast,” he said, as he gathered up his two race cars and placed them at the top of the ramp. “They’re both fast, but the green one just did it.”

Maeve, another kindergartener, was explaining her marble project on statistics. She held up a packet, where the data had been tracked. The packet was called, Pushes and Pulls. The marbles were set in a tray, and were spread out relatively evenly throughout the tray. Maeve set one marble in the center, and rolled in a second. As the new marble was introduced, the stationary marble was impacted and it shot across the tray on an angle.

Whether Maeve knew it or not, she was being introduced to Newton’s 3 laws of motion, along with the concepts of force, trajectory, and acceleration.

In a broader context, these same laws of motion could also be applied to the students of the Village School who participated in STEM Night. As the impact of learning hits them, their trajectory is altered, their momentum accelerates and they become a force to be reckoned with.