Lower School STEAM Night Shows Off Best of Barstow

The community tried activities organized by STEAM teacher Jennifer McNickle and lower school faculty. They learned about the science of magnets with a magnetic fishing game, discovered the properties of invisible ink and got hands-on with tinkering projects.

In Price Hall, families viewed a scale model of a proposed addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, created by students in grades 1-5. Lower school art teacher Polly Blair was inspired by the Nelson’s call for architects to submit proposals for the museum’s expansion, and she challenged lower school students to respond to the prompt as well. The resulting 3D model is colorful, creative and detailed, and includes everything from popsicle stick furniture and pipe cleaner houseplants to miniature framed artwork and sculptures in and around the cardboard structure. The model also includes a to-scale blackbox theatre.

Fourth and fifth grade classes displayed the invention and science projects that they have worked on throughout the semester for STEAM night visitors. Fifth graders set up science projects showing hypotheses, experimentation and data collection addressing a variety of questions: Which brand of waterproof bandage is the best at resisting moisture? How does flour affect the texture of a cookie? Which household surface has the most bacteria? These and other questions were studied and answered by fifth grade.

Fourth grade inventors showcased prototypes for inventions that problem-solve inconveniences within daily life. One student inventor imagined an app and machine that delivers snacks throughout the house. Another prototyped slippers that prevent stubbed toes. Still another proposed a device that makes it easier to retrieve a soccer ball out of a net, and several provided creative and practical solutions to natural phenomena such as snow and fire.

Around 300 students, along with their family members, attended STEAM Night.