STEM lessons are everywhere

Skating rinks are known for lights, disco balls and, of course, roller skates. Many children and parents see them as a safe place to have fun.

But if you look a little closer, they are also full of STEM lessons — and Skate Zone has done just that. Last week the skating rink hosted area students for a STEM Day Camp opening many of the components to examination by elementary school students with lessons in force, friction, sound, light, balance and motion.

Students placed roller skates at the top of a ramp.

“I want you to make a prediction about how far the skate will go,” Skate Zone co-owner Tina Perdue told the students. “Take a look at the material on the ramp and guess what will happen.”

Students looked at ramps covered in carpet, plastic and wood.

“We want you to look at it as a process,” Perdue said. “Look at what you have and think about what is going on. The different surfaces create different levels of friction.”

Tina’s husband Gardner helped students learn about the various parts of a roller skate. He guided them through a drawing showing the various parts of the skate including the boot, the trucks under the boot holding axles, the wheels and the nuts and bolts used to hold everything together.

“It helps with engineering skills,” Gardner said.

Students also got lessons in light seeing how the various LEDs worked and even how colors sometimes shifted under black lights.

The Perdues saw an opportunity to offer up the skating rink as a STEM lab.

“Gardner and I feel an awesome responsibility to give back to the community by offering educational field trips,” Tina said. “How many communities have a skating rink? Wetumpka does, so we feel that it is important to utilize our rink and enrich the students by offering Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics activities.”

When the lessons were done, students also got to take advantage of traditional skating rink activities such as a pizza lunch and roller skating.