Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Digging for fossils, making your name in binary code and operating a 3-D printer were among the activities offered in the second STEAM night presented by Western Springs Elementary District 101 Thursday at McClure Junior High.

Sixteen different interactive exhibits were offered during the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math event. Field Park School Principal Brad Promisel said all of the exhibits were teacher created with the help of some outside groups and parent volunteers.

One of the parent volunteers is Monica Pavlik, who helped start the event last year with a grant from the Western Springs Foundation for Educational Excellence.

“We use the grants to purchase supplies for the interactive exhibits which are planned by faculty and third party vendors as well as donations from Lyons Township High School and the Thomas Ford Library,” said Pavlik.

One of the popular exhibits was the inflatable sky labs which allowed students to study the night sky in a planetarium setting.

“The sky lab allows students to look at the solar system and the night sky,” said Eric Oslo of SciTech of Aurora.

Volunteers from LTHS also helped students in a smaller sky lab borrowed from the high school.

“This was an opportunity to help out and get kids interested in astronomy and view our star projector” said junior Max Knipstein.

Another popular exhibit was the build your own terrarium, where students could create a succulent terrarium and add fun elements such as sparkly rocks and miniature animals.

“We had a different terrarium last year, but this year we wanted the kids to create a succulent terrarium so they could learn how to plant and to keep the plants alive,” said Laidlaw School teacher Cole Ciangi-Bachtell.

Students also had the chance to create their own slime.

“Mom doesn’t let us do this at home so it is fun,” said Maeve McClure, 10.

Forest Hills teacher Nicole Modaff showed students how to dig for fossils.

“We want to teach the students the vocabulary of paleontology and how to use excavation tools,” Modaff said. “There is also an opportunity to use the QR reader technology to find out information on their fossils.”

The Thomas Ford Memorial Library of Western Springs brought in its 3-D printer.

“The students can practice using the printer and we will have a raffle to win some McClure bulldogs printed by the 3-D printer,” Youth Services Librarian Brittany Coleman said.

Coleman said they wanted the students to become familiar with how the printer works and show how it can self-repair, since some of parts to hold the printer together were created by the printer itself.

TinkrWorks, a interactive science after-school and in-school program company, offered students the chance to view a Rubic’s Cube solving robot and try out microdrones and racing drones.

Some McClure students also had the opportunity to volunteer as teachers for the event. Seventh-graders Graham Smith, John Airhart and Patrick Furey study robotics at McClure and volunteered for the Lego robotics session.

More Top Picks Best Sunscreens

“We can teach kids to program our Lego robot to do different actions like turn around, pick up color sensing or send a message,” Airhart said.

Superintendent Brian Barnhart said at least 500 children came to the event the previous year so they made this event longer and with more exhibits.

Diane Dachota is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.