Hillside Students Discover the Wonders of Science

Friday's day-long "Science Day" at Hillside Elementary School engaged the entire student body -- from kindergarten through 5th grade -- with fundamental science concepts, as they acquired real-life experiences and problem-solving skills.

“If we are to increase the science literacy of our community, we need to show that science, math, and engineering are relevant and exciting. Science Day helps to generate curiosity about science and promotes a positive mindset, but it also provides an innovative way to integrate science into writing, reading and mathematics — as well as character building and teamwork,” said Dr. Maisha Otway, principal of Hillside Elementary School.

Each class experienced both demonstrations performed by teachers and hands-on experiments executed by the students. They also learned about the Scientific Method through a journaling process—pictures for Kindergarteners, progressing to sophisticated note-taking at the 5th grade level. All experiments—an incredible 200-250 performed throughout the course of the day—were directly linked to specific Georgia Performance Standards for Science and Mathematics.

For the fifth year in a row, Hillside Elementary won a Sawnee EMC Bright Ideas Grant for Science Day. With the help of this grant, the school has continued to expand Science Day by purchasing better equipment, involving community leaders, and sharing their knowledge with surrounding schools.

In grades K-2, the Science Day experiments are based on a spiral learning approach, which has higher grades studying the same concept at a greater depth and difficulty. For instance, in Kindergarten, students studied how seeds grow in soil during the Dirt Baggers experiment.  This was taken to the next level in 1st grade with the Dirt Discovery experiment, which allowed students to observe the properties of soil in three clear bottles with rocks of different sizes. Finally, 2nd grade students looked for evidence of erosion and its causes in Agent Erosion.

In grades 3-5, students took their developed scientific knowledge and utilized it in a competitive science day that promoted teamwork and sportsmanship in friendly competition. Students competed in events such as BarbieTM Bungee (investigating gravity, force and motion), Magniviewer (using a handmade microscope to observe different objects), and The Catapult (studying the effect of size, gravity, force and motion on spheres). 

Thanks to the City of Roswell and the Hillside PTA for the photos and information about the event.