Young Science Lovers Discover Motion

By Kimberly Marcott Weinberg
Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing


Dozens of first- through sixth-grade students are immersing themselves in science this week at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s X-treme Science Camp.

The camp was organized by Dr. Lauren Yaich, associate dean of academic affairs and associate professor of biology at Pitt-Bradford, and Brenda Brandon, who has worked with the campus’s Science in Motion program.

Each day of camp has a theme such as motion; water, buoyancy and density; the natural world; and every kid’s favorite, gross stuff.

Motion was the theme on the second day of camp, with students learning about machine, human and animal motion in hands-on labs planned by Pitt-Bradford faculty and brought to life by middle and high school teachers from the area.

Building roller coasters for marbles taught children all about how to get an object to build and keep momentum. The goal of the exercise was to build a roller coaster worth waiting in line for, and every group worked hard toward that target. Eighth grade Science Club students from Floyd C. Fretz Middle School helped the first through third-grade groups with their contraptions. The highly focused builders cooperated beautifully as they vied to put together the best roller coaster in the room. While one group aimed to make the longest ride possible with a downhill zigzag, another tried for short but fun with lots of spirals and an adrenalin-filled free-fall.

Student Shane Peterson learned how to leap farther in a lab about human motion by leaning forward and stretching his arms out in front of himself as he jumped. While one group tested its own balance and stability on two legs as compared to four-legged creatures, another learned about the scientific method and testing reaction time. The students’ hypothesis was that they could improve their reaction time, and they tested this idea by timing how fast they could put their thumb and index fingers together. They recorded their results on charts so that other scientists would be able to repeat the experiment in the future.

Trent Middlebrough, another student, and his younger brother Brandon went to last summer’s science camp and were ready for more this year. As he examined a centipede under a microscope, Brandon said, “I did this last year and it was really, really fun.” His favorite part this year was studying how the centipede moved compared to other creatures, like beetles, ants, a hermit crab, and even a bunny.

Students also got to stretch their legs insect style in a “bug walk.” Each student was assigned a part of the bug to mimic so the group formed one giant insect. The “head” student shouted out “blue, red, blue, red” and the three “thorax” students moved their corresponding color-coded legs, swinging them out to the side just the way an insect does.

Finally, the students got to interact with Romeo and Paris, Jean Ewing’s 2 ½ -year-old alpacas. Ewing brought the pair upon request from her stepdaughter, Nikki, one of the camp counselors. The fluffy newcomers to the camp were a hit, and Ewing hopes to bring them back again next year.

Each group of students was interested to learn something different from the alpacas. One group was fascinated by the spinning wheel and how the animals’ wool is used for things like hats and scarves in their native South America. Another group examined their movements and learned about how male alpacas use their long necks to wrestle. Perhaps the most interesting group was the one in which students communicated with the alpacas by humming -- the alpacas hummed back.

Pictured, children in the first- through third-grade group at X-treme Science at Pitt-Bradford this week. As part of learning about animal motion, these students are learning to walk like a bug.

Pitt-Bradford photo


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