St. John The Evangelist School builds science lab
Thalia Juarez | Herald-Standard
Fifth-grade students eagerly watch a newly acquired 3-D printer in action during their science lab at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School. The school recently designed a new science/tech lab where students can experience more hands-on activities to enhance learning.
Kindergartner Gianna Kiefer (left) reacts while playing an interactive game with her classmates at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School.
Renee Petrovich, middle school science teacher at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School, demonstrates how to use a microscope with a touch-pad screen in the school’s newly designed science lab.
Kindergarten students (from left) Gianna Rizer, Evelina Miller, Michaela Buchheit and Jaycee Lint play an interactive game during their tech lab at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School. The school recently acquired materials to host a science and technology lab for students.
Before this academic year, students at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School didn’t have a space to conduct experiments, examine organisms or study ecosystems.
A science lab was something the Uniontown school was sorely missing, said Principal Christine Roskovensky.
So in an effort to boost science and technology offerings, school officials built one.
Opened at the beginning of the school year, the new lab gives the school a space to provide science education to its 200 students in pre-K to eighth grade.
“We’re very excited because as a Catholic school we want to keep up with the times here. We found a need to do it because of the new technology coming forward,” Roskovensky said.
The new lab, along with a recent retooling of the science curriculum, has enhanced the school’s science program “leaps and bounds,” she added.
The final pieces of furniture and equipment trickled in during the school year as final touches were made to transform a learning support classroom into a state-of-the-art science lab.
A 3-D printer arrived in October. A Mimio interactive projector was mounted in November. Cabinets were placed in December.
Now, the fully realized lab gives elementary and middle school students a space to learn, investigate and create.
“It’s brand new this year. We just got the cabinets in last month, so it’s pretty much just now finished,” said third-grade teacher Amy Palya, who, along with first-grade teacher Cathy Poninsky, doubles as a computer teacher and leads the charge in technology education at the school.
“The students have been in here since the beginning of the year using the space,” said Palya. “Because (with) a lot of their hands-on activities, they need to have the work tables, they need to have the room to do the different projects that they do.”
The lab also features a digital microscope, a 55-inch television and a laptop at a teacher’s station that controls the show.
The new lab gives science teacher Renee Petrovich a designated space to teach lessons, which were previously conducted in regular classrooms. As part of the new curriculum, Petrovich uses FOSS, or Full Option Science System, kits — modules that include materials and investigations for various topics.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Petrovich. “These (FOSS) kits especially, they have everything you need. The materials are here, they’re available. The technology is amazing. It has definitely taken learning to another level.”
The work of Palya and Poninsky in the computer lab often continues down hall in the science lab.
Palya began teaching a class to middle school students in October that uses computer design program Tinkercad to create and manipulate objects on the computer screen. Students can then take their ideas to the 3-D printer in the science lab to bring their creations to life.
Last month, students made key chains. The current project is creating pencil holders.
Poninsky oversees young students on the school’s interactive tabletop, the Promethean ActivTable. Donated by a parent four years ago, it is used as a learning tool for a variety of subjects.
A new device, the Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set, arrived in October and allows students as young as kindergarten to learn about algorithms and to prepare them for computer programming, Poninsky explained.
“I think we are really trying to push towards having the students have a lot more hands-on experience with technology and science and all of the different parts of STREAM (science, technology, religion, engineering, art and math),” said Palya. “We want them to get ready for high school and then college and real-world life.”
Roskovensky said the lab with its state-of-the-art equipment was made possible through grants and donations. Every piece is vital to the school’s mission to prepare students for high school and future careers.
“My teachers are very forward thinkers. They find something, I find the money to do it,” said Roskovensky. “I tried so hard to get all the technology we need. The kids deserve the best.”