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Apple juice spaghetti noodles to grand slam physics on tap

Apple juice spaghetti noodles to grand slam physics on tap

Fifth grade teachers Brad Holmes of Montoursville, left, and Karen Fausnaught of Jersey Shore, right, make ice cream using liquid nitrogen during Pennslyvania College of Technology's Science Festival at Penn College in Williamsport on Thursday morning. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Fifth grade teachers Brad Holmes of Montoursville, left, and Karen Fausnaught of Jersey Shore, right, make ice cream using liquid nitrogen during Pennslyvania College of Technology's Science Festival at Penn College in Williamsport on Thursday morning.  KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Ryan Stratton of the Jersey Shore Area High School Technology Student Association, right, demonstrates what the robot can do for 5th grade students during Pennslyvania College of Technology's Science Festival at Penn College in Williamsport on Thursday morning.  KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Over 1,600 fifth-grade students received a hands-on experience with robots, soda caviar and the physics of baseball at a science festival Thursday at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Students from across the region bustled through the campus to learn about science, technology, engineering and math careers in the sixth annual event put on by Penn College, Lycoming College and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

The goal of the event was to expose students to and educate them about careers they might not know exist, said Paul Watson, dean of academic services and college transitions.

“The festival enables students to have a fun and engaging day to think about what they might want to do,” he said. Career exploration allows the students to figure out what they could be interested in and what does not appeal to them.

Nine culinary arts students and Chef Frank Suchwala, hospitality management and culinary arts professor at Penn College, did different demonstrations expanding the students’ understanding of food as a science.

A camera was set up to project what the chefs were doing on a screen. They had a multi-pipette tool to create caviar from soda and a long tube to make apple juice spaghetti noodles. They also

used liquid nitrogen to create ice cream.

With the unique methods to make one-of-a-kind food, the students did not know what was going to happen next, Suchwala said.

“They have no idea what the outcome is,” he said. “It’s a little mindblowing.”

By taking soda and sodium alginate in a pipette, they created semi-solid soda spheres, or caviar.

The spaghetti was a combination of juice and agar, a thickening agent, in a tube that then was dipped in an ice bath.

For the ice cream, Suchwala blended sugar, half-and-half, heavy cream and chocolate chunks in an electric mixer. Then liquid nitrogen was poured in to quickly freeze the contents.

The result was of a smooth texture.

Aly Toy, program presenter for Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, spoke about physics through the lens of baseball in her Grand Slam Science presentation. She went over Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion and how they apply to the sport.

“I hope the students take away that science can be fun,” she said.

She also had a marimba made of baseball bats that resonated to create unique sounds when they were struck.

In the fieldhouse, about 35 vendors were set up to do hands-on activities with the students.

Andrew Baker, Jersey Shore Area High School technology education teacher, brought robots built by his students for the fifth-graders to drive around using remote controls. They could direct the robot’s arm to throw a ball into a miniature basketball net.

“These robots are about solving problems,” Baker said. “My students learn how to assemble them, then learn how to manipulate and program the robot to do something.”

Employees from Restek, a chromatography company in Bellefonte, taught students about the science of separation.

Alex Pavkovich, research and development associate, said she had a fun time talking with the festival attendees and helping them make bouncy balls. The balls were made of glue, corn starch and borax.

By using something tangible, they were able to better grasp the concept, she said.

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