The Eaton High School Science Club and teacher Amy Kochensparger recently presented the second S.T.E.M. Energy Night, held in the school cafeteria during home basketball games. Approximately 150-200 people attended the game and explored energy stations. Twelve student leaders volunteered their time to run these hands-on lab stations, each focusing on a science concept, ways to conserve energy, and/or alternative energy sources.
Members from Ohio Soybean Council-sponsored GrowNextGen also hosted a station on biodiesel boats. Many people wandered over, curious about seeing the boats move with an open flame. Some stayed longer to make predictions about which boat would win the race. Others asked practical questions about whether this is how biodiesel works in machines and vehicles.
Other stations included a 3-D printer in use, insulators and conductors, and an exploration of kinetic energy, potential energy, gravitational potential energy.
An “Energy Bike” showcased the amount of energy available for light vs the amount of energy lost as heat in different types of light bulbs. Participants saw how hard is was to pedal the bike fast enough to generate enough energy to light up the incandescent “old” bulbs, and how much easier it was to pedal and light up the LED bulbs because very little energy is released in the form of heat.
Kochensparger is one of GrowNextGen’s teacher leaders. Contact us if you’d like to know more about how to go about setting up your own community Energy Night!
