Croton Harmon Students Participate In Bones Event

From Carrie Tomkins Elementary School: Were pirates some of the world’s first scientists? According to Professor Billy Bones, who brought Pirate School and the Science of Pirates to life at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School on May 26, they were.

Second-grade students, dressed in their best pirate attire, attended an assembly hosted by Bones to learn more about how pirates and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) go hand-in- hand.

“I believe curiosity is the basis of all science,” Bones said. “Science helps us to understand the physical world and how to make our lives better.”

Students learned that Bernoulli’s Principle about air pressure was utilized by sailors to navigate the seas, that pirates engineered simple machines like levers, pulleys and wheels on their ships, that math is needed to navigate longitude and latitude and the Magnus Effect is demonstrable through the firing of a cannon ball.

Students helped Bones demonstrate some of these principles, as well as practiced their best pirate stances and skills before enjoying pirate-themed snacks later in the day.

Images Courtesy of Croton Harmon Schools