By Emily Hubbell

Above: Students create snowflakes with their teacher.

Below: Braslavsky explains how the alignment of marbles inside this box is similar to the pattern of molecules in an ice crystal.

On a chilly February morning, while the rest of East Elementary School was busy in their classrooms, the first graders were having a snow day.

As part of a community outreach initiative, Assistant Professor of physics and astronomy Ido Braslavsky prepared a lesson entitled “Snow Day,” which explains the physics of snowflakes.  He presented the lesson at the Athens County Public Library and also in his daughter’s elementary school class. Following is a recap of Braslavsky’s activity at East Elementary.

Braslavsky’s lesson focused on the formation and structure of snowflakes, explained in a kid-friendly way with lots of visual aids.  After a brief presentation, the class was divided among four hands-on work stations that enhanced the information Braslavsky explained during his power point presentation.

At the first station was a box full of marbles. Braslavsky explained to the students that the way the marbles lined up in the box mimics the tight structure within an ice crystal. At the second station, the first graders were given cotton balls. They noticed that if they pulled the cotton ball apart before throwing it into the air, it fell much slower. This connects back to snowflakes and the speed at which they fall from the sky.  A third station let the students cut and make paper snowflakes.

At a final station, one of the most popular, students were given two flat pieces of plastic. The kids put paint on one piece, pressed the other piece on top and observed how the paint spread out in a pattern naturally formed between the two pieces of plastic. They then stamped the paint on a piece of paper to bring home with them.

While the students were busy at the stations, graduate student Yeliz Celik was busy growing a piece of snow flake to show the kids. Celik and the mother of one of the children in the class aided Braslavsky in the classroom.

At the end of the activities, Braslavsky conducted an experiment using dry ice. The first graders watched with amazement as vapor poured from the Styrofoam box in the middle of the table.  As Braslavsky left, the students were reviewing the information they learned about snowflakes with their teacher.

Braslavsky was recently awarded a grant from National Science Foundation, which supports community outreach initiatives such as "Snow Day."  Braslavsky held another kid-oriented lesson, titled “Rainbow Day,” at the Athens library in April. Stay tuned for a recap of that program.

Above: Braslavsky shows students an experiment with dry ice.