Armenian Sisters Academy: Students learn about environment and electricity

Published: Monday February 08, 2010

Fourth graders at the Armenian Sisters Academy, Radnor, PA, Andre Ewing and John Arslanyan created a closed circuit and lit their bulb.

Fourth graders at the Armenian Sisters Academy, Radnor, PA, Justina Tran and Aleen Streeter work together to create electricity.

Radnor, Pa. - What's better than going to the Philadelphia Zoo in the middle of January? Having the zoo come to you, of course! A zoologist brought Zoo on Wheels to the Academy along with special visitors.

First, she explained ways that we all create carbon dioxide and the carbon footprint we leave on Earth. Students learned how the destruction of trees and rainforest regions cut down on the amount of carbon dioxide that can be absorbed from the atmosphere.

The build-up of this gas is the reason the Earth's temperatures are rising. Students considered the many ways they can minimize the harm they inflict on the environment.

The highlight of the presentation was experiencing animals first hand, and they began with a chinchilla. Did you know that while humans only grow one hair from each follicle, chinchillas grow more than fifty hairs? That's what makes them extraordinarily soft as many children experienced from petting one.

Children also saw a desert-dwelling Harris hawk whose prey is diminishing and thus these hawks are becoming endangered.

A macaw was brought out and students learned that these birds live in the rainforest, but they are becoming homeless as these forests are being cleared.

It was an educational morning for all, and one that certainly had students think twice about their actions and their effects on Mother Earth.

... and a lesson on electricity 

Fourth graders at the Armenian Sisters Academy, Radnor, PA learned about electricity, specifically series circuits, by working with it.

Their teacher, Mrs. Michele Ciaramello, explained how electricity flows, the necessity of everything being connected to allow the electricity to flow, and the attraction between opposite (positive and negative) forces. She then paired up the 16 students, and each group received a D-cell battery, two rubber-coated copper wires, a miniature light bulb, and some pieces of rubber-coated electrical tape.

Their mission was simple: to work together in their pairs to light the bulb. They completed lab sheets, made predictions and drew conclusions about how things should be connected. By the end of two class periods, all 8 pairs of students had lit bulbs. Their excitement was palpable and their beaming smiles showed their pride in their persistence, discoveries, and rewarded efforts.

Next on their list? Parallel circuits, in which two light bulbs are lit together or only one at a time.

Bravo, Lower Intermediate!

For information about the school contact Susan Pogharian, Director of Admissions and Communications at 610-757-7090 or Admissions@asaphila.org and visit the school's web site at http://www.asaphila.org/.