BAKER — Baker School’s cafeteria on Monday filled with parents, students, teachers and science experiments for the second annual family Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics night.
Educators invited elementary students and their parents for a night of fun science experiments — all to get elementary students excited about science, school officials said.
"We gear it for the kindergarten through third-grade students," event organizer Sara Uyehara said. "It's just for them to experience science and get a feel for it."
Uyehara, who teaches computer and technology to middle school students, knows the importance of STEM education.
"In today's world, students really need that background," he said. "We want the kids to realize how fun it can be."
From making homemade modeling clay and slime to shooting off Mentos rockets, each of the 26 science experiment booths were manned by students in the high school or middle school STEM clubs.
Bryan Holley, 12, showed off small robots programmable to perform certain tasks.
"You can program them to go forwards, backwards, go side to side, and make sounds,” Holley said, adding he anticipates more club experiments.
Brian Bass brought his 11-year-old daughter, Aliyah, who wanted to see what the event was about.
Both were waiting to see one of the Mentos rockets shoot off outside the cafeteria.
While inside the cafeteria, they noticed a familiar experiment.
"We noticed that her science project is one of the experiments that they have going on inside," Brian Bass said.
"It's the one where they blow up a balloon using yeast and vinegar," Aliyah said, adding that such projects fuel her enjoyment of science class.
The event inspired Tiffany Plunkett, who teaches science to elementary students.
"I might actually use some of these experiments in my class," she said.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker students display science skills during family STEM night (GALLERY)