GLOBAL LEARNING

Inflatable Earth teaches kids lessons

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » A 19-foot tall inflatable Earth globe is making a world of difference for kids at Division Street Elementary School.

The full-color educational tool, made with 2,000 satellite images, was purchased last year by the school’s Parent Teacher Association and made its public debut Monday at the sixth annual STEM Expo, designed to spark pupil interest in science learning, which could lead to rewarding careers.

The $25,000 globe, made by Minnesota-based Earth Adventures, was one 14 exhibits at STEM Expo, which promotes interactive hands-on learning.

“We use it to teach any subject you can imagine from language to social studies,” said fifth-grade teacher Evelyn Hefner. “It also helps kids learn about time zones, longitude and latitude.”

Children can get a unique perspective of the world by climbing inside the globe, like a bounce house, and seeing all seven continents at once.

Division Street school

is making it available to other schools in the Saratoga Springs district, and elsewhere, for a rental fee.

STEM Expo presenters included Empire State Aerosciences Museum, Saratoga Children’s Museum, Wildlife Institute of Eastern New York, and Spa City police, which fingerprinted children and taught a science lesson by showing how a radar gun works.

Regeneron is a Rensselaer-based biopharmaceutical firm that manufactures antibodies to make medicines.

“We want kids to be excited about science and the life-saving work it makes possible,” said Amy Ryan, a company employee. “It’s important for them to be engaged at a young age.”

Third-grader Michael Todtenhagen and his younger brother, Lucas, were fascinated by bottles of colored liquid, which provided a demonstration about density.

“We look forward to this every year,” said the boys’ mother, Jessica Todtenhagen. “It’s one of our most fun events at Division Street school. They’re exposed to so many aspects of science and technology.”

Ron Glasser, from Discovery Hall in Troy, presented a “Jewels of the Sea” exhibit of more than 1,000 seashells. He explained how a series of math numbers called the Reciprocal Fibonacci Constant is manifested in nature, as spirals ranging from a large ram’s horn to geometric shapes on butterfly wings all follow the same pattern.

The Children’s Museum taught basic engineering skills by showing kids how to hold up a heavy object by building a structure made from toothpicks and gum drops.

STEM Expo exhibits also featured several projects students worked on together in classrooms, and individually. The event is held to showcase their work and give parents and the public a chance to see what they’re doing.

“It’s not just about us, it’s about the whole community,” said Connie Woytowich, Division Street School PTA chair.

PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM A 19-foot tall inflatable Earth Adventures globe is a valuable teaching tool, which made its public debut at the Division Street Elementary School STEM Expo.

PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Students learn many different types of lessons with the aid of a large inflatable globe of the world. Teacher Evelyn Hefner, rear, is joined by students, left to right, Owen Blaisdell, Nick Baldwin, Madilyn Wilson, Parker Duthaler and Ben Rosan.

PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Ben Robinson, 3, checks out some of the interesting marine articles in a “Jewels of the Sea” exhibit at STEM Expo.

PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Toren Johnson, left, is fingerprinted by Saratoga Springs Police Department Investigator Matt Wilson, right, at the event.

PAUL POST — PPOST@DIGITALFIRSTMEDIA.COM Brothers Lucas and Michael Todtenhagen, left to right, take part in a hands-on exhibit that uses bottles of colored liquid to demonstrate principles of density.