BY JESSICA STEELEY
Clarkston News Staff Writer

Andersonville Elementary students experimented with circuits, centripetal force, fingerprinting and human x-rays during their Festival Day on April 28.
The event is an Andersonville tradition incorporating science in a fun, hands-on learning approach for the students, Festival Day Co-Chair Michelle Herkowitz said.
Andersonville partners with Cranbrook Institute of Science (CIS), who provides equipment for 14 different science stations that students switch from throughout the event.
“We have Cranbrook that comes out and they provide us with some science stations and then Lower El will do science stations in the morning with Cranbrook and then they’ll go to a science assembly in the afternoon and the schedule will be flip-flopped for Upper El,” said Herkowitz, who is also an Andersonville second grade teacher.
CIS Services Representative Austin Arquette described some of the stations, which differed between the two sections.
“For little kids today we had slime and bubbles, for the older kids we have circuits and hot wheels,” Arquette said. Some other stations included Math Mania, Native American Games and identifying rocks from Michigan.
“It’s been amazing, they are outstanding. I mean, they come in and they are so organized, they have all their bins ready and the supplies ready and it’s wonderful. Cranbrook really does a great job,” Herkowitz said.
Arquette said they do these programs with schools during the year, working with all age groups in K-12. “They decide which topics they want the kids to learn about, they can schedule it, it’s basically a more interactive version of a field trip.”
Aside from the stations, the assembly shows the students experiments and teaches them about physics, Herkowitz said. “It’s just a really fun and exciting day, the kids absolutely love it, they look forward to this day every single year,” she said.