Libertyville students learn science the fun way during STEM Week

Fourth-grade students at Adler Park School in Libertyville studied electricity Tuesday by assembling a working circuit switch with a bulb and later installing them in cardboard houses.

It was all part of the school's second STEM Week - a concentration of science, technology, engineering and math learning.

"They are having so much fun," said Emily Weber, the gifted, talented, and enrichment teacher who created the STEM program at Adler. "They have to design a house that has four rooms and each room has to have a light bulb and a switch that turns on."

Students in other grade levels had their own STEM projects to tackle. First graders explored flotation by creating Silly Putty boats with plastic monkeys; second graders made gingerbread man traps; third-graders learned about pendulums; and fifth graders made Alka Seltzer-powered cars.

On Friday, a Starlab will be set up and students will learn about astronomy in the portable planetarium that allows them to explore the night sky with the use of a digital projector.