Livingston kids get a hands-on science lesson

First-graders did their share of goofing around Thursday, but it was in the name of science.

The 6- and -7-year-olds from Campus Park Elementary played with bubbles, made their own play dough, built lava lamps, mixed paint to color their T-shirts and even touched dissected animals during a science field trip to Livingston High School.

The juniors and seniors who have studied biology served as the teachers, wearing white lab coats and teaching the little ones by making the lessons fun.

Evelyn Fuentes, 17, said the play dough was a lesson in measurements, following instructions and on the consistency of the dough made from flour, salt and water.

“This is so they can apply communication skills with their peers,” the Advanced Placement biology student said.

This is the second year that schoolchildren have visited the high school as part of the Science Exploratory Field Trip, according to high school Principal Mandy Ballenger.

“They’re getting to go around and do hands-on science experiments and learn about science,” she said.

The annual effort was borne from the high school students’ passion for science, she said, adding the school is weighing expanding the program for more children in the Livingston Union School District.

Developing a love of science could bode well for area schoolchildren as they grow up in the shadow of UC Merced, the first new research facility of the 21st century.

Schoolchildren also made duck calls through straws, checked out shark jaws and even made snow. Small groups of children gathered around a model volcano to mix the chemicals that was soon to be shooting from its opening.

Six-year-old Julius Picera stirred the ingredients in a beaker as he realized he liked science. “This is actually fun,” he said.

This story was originally published May 18, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Livingston kids get a hands-on science lesson."