Lewis-Palmer School District 38

Bear Creek Elementary's (BCES) annual Science Fair and STEAM Day isn't your average science fair.

It's a trip around our solar system, a tight-squeeze through a narrow cave, a hike through the forest, and a chance for students to show the community their skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).

This year's event, held on Feb. 4, was an impressive display.

Tri-folds and scientific equipment took over the BCES gym, as the projects of more than 200 were on display. BCES Teacher Valerie DeLello said students worked on their projects for months and couldn't wait to present them to their peers and judges.

"There was experimenting, planning, decorating, building, and more experimenting all the way up until Feb. 4," DeLello said.

While hundreds of science fair projects took over the gym, nearly every other corner of the school was filled with engaging and interactive STEAM activities for students.

One of the activities was a gravity table presentation. Through the use of marbles, balls, and flexible fabric, this activity taught students about the concepts of gravity, black holes, and how objects move and affect each other in space.

In another area, students were visited by a veteran forester, from the Colorado State Forest Service. During this presentation, students learned about forest management, forest health, and how healthy water and quality wildlife habitat are produced and maintained.

Sitting just outside of the school building was one of the students' favorite STEAM Day activities, the cave simulator. This activity started with a demonstration from "Cave Dave" and his team on pulleys, rappelling, and how you move in and out of caves. Then, students strapped on spelunking helmets and began exploring the three different stations of the cave simulator. One area allowed students to work with pulleys and hoist and lower their classmates as if they were descending into a cave. Another area showed them how tight the spaces can be for a brave cave explorer moving through narrow passage ways. And finally, the mobile cave allowed students to crawl through a replica cave and use their headlamps to explore different things they might find in a cave ecosystem.

Another favorite activity of students was the inflatable planetarium and presentation given by an actual astrophysicist who is currently working for NASA on a lunar landing project. After climbing into the inflatable planetarium, students were launched across space as they explored different planets, moons, and stars in our solar system. The visual capabilities of the planetarium and interactive presentation from the astrophysicist created an engaging atmosphere that seemed to spark students' imaginations and more questions than time constraints would allow.

Following STEAM Day, BCES opens its doors to the entire D38 community for STEAM Night, which features even more science, technology, art, and math.

The evening portion of the event, in addition to the previously mentioned activities, also included science, math, and art activities throughout the building, art displays, a display from the BCES Cub-botics Team, and other hands-on activities. The evening also included an appearance by retired Astronaut Jim Reilly, who flew three space shuttle missions with the NASA Astronaut Corps and was also the 17th director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Also in attendance for the evening portion of the event were the Pikes Peak Library District, CSASTRO, CosRocs, the American Heart Association, Jim Fariss and Dan Mariotti (musicians), WMMI, Cave of the Winds, Chuck Menke with We’reCookinNow, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Cool Science.

Organizers of STEAM Day said the success of the event is thanks to the dedication and efforts of many staff members, students, community members, and local organizations.