St. Luke's 7th Graders' Special Science Expo Evening

It started with a simple scientific question. Taking a basic unit on scientific inquiry to a new level, St. Luke’s seventh graders first thoughtfully selected a single question involving the science of the world around us. After spending seven weeks hypothesizing, researching and proving the answer, students then produced creative presentations of their findings. Parents, faculty and students saw, heard, felt and even tasted the mostly interactive projects during the recent Prove It Expo. Carrie Van Atten, 7th grade science teacher, organized the Prove it Expo (PIE) to be a science expo with a social component. Van Atten said, “The projects are designed to encourage students to take a scientific approach to answering questions about topics that interest them.”

The first annual PIE Night was designed as part science fair and part potluck dessert party. “We had a science fair for years, but the spirit of the event was lost in the competition. I think this is a much better way to help students develop interest in science,” said Gareth Fancher, Head of the Middle School. The well-designed individual projects, balloons and huge attendance by the SLS community made the evening a true celebration of science and discovery.

Students had the opportunity to choose such diverse topics as understanding how grass grows under different conditions, comparing fingerprints across family members, and exploring the food preferences of a classroom iguana. “It took some figuring out,” Allie Vogel ’20 explained how she used fruits to create electricity, “It was cool to try different fruits and see what did and didn’t work. Bananas were the best, but they rot too quickly.”

Both Van Atten, Fancher, other faculty, and parents were encouraged by how enthusiastic students were to complete these projects and present their findings. “It’s really simple, but it was really fun to test and see how different elastic bands performed,” Peter Gutstein ’20 explains during a demonstration of his project. Dr. John Higgins, Upper School science teacher, said it best when he declared, “PIE night has undoubtedly generated countless memories for these students that have depth and endurance. Congratulations to Ms. Van Atten and the seventh graders!”