2024-25 school yearOutreach

Center Grove Science NHS

Elementary Science Lab Night

Name: Elementary Science Lab Night
Start: 2025-02-27
Location: Innovation Center

Elementary Science Lab Night welcomed Center Grove elementary students to the Innovation Center for an engaging evening of interactive experiments and interactive challenges. Organized by the SNHS members, the event featured a diverse lineup of student-run stations—such as fingerprint forensics, bottle cap rockets, and oil-water lava lamps—alongside a variety of extra engineering-focused activities.

FEB

2025

5:00 PM–7:00 PM

Innovation Center

School year: 2024-25
Category: Outreach
Duration: 3 hours
Photo record: 10 images

The story

More than an event — a chance to put science into practice.

A hands-on STEM community outreach night hosted by SNHS featuring fingerprinting, bottle cap rockets, oil-water lava lamps, and additional engineering-themed activities.

Why we did it

To spark early curiosity and enthusiasm for science and engineering among elementary students through interactive experiments, while empowering SNHS members to lead impactful community outreach..

What participants did

Enjoy a variety of station activities led by CGHS Science National Honor Society members, where students can rotate through hands-on experiments and interactive challenges. Each station features a different science topic—encouraging curiosity, problem-solving, and discovery in a fun, engaging way designed for elementary students.

In the room

What the work looked like.

Each activity connected a visible, hands-on task to the scientific thinking behind it.

Water Density

Lava Lamps

Students mixed colored water and oil, observed changes in a water bottle and connected the result to how water behaves.

Forensics

Balloon Fingerprinting

Members helped students look for their enlarged fingerprints on a balloon after filling it up with air

Highlights

What stood out.

01Welcomed more than 150 elementary students for an evening of hands-on science.
02Connected polymer science, chemical reactions, density, and engineering to everyday observations.
03Put SNHS members in charge of explaining concepts, managing materials, and guiding safe experiments.
04Gave younger students space to predict, test, observe, and ask questions at every station.

What we learned

Every event leaves a better playbook.

Science communicationMentoringLab safetyTeam coordination

Lessons to carry forward

The clearest explanations begin with a question, not a lecture.
Short, repeatable station instructions help volunteers spend more time talking with students.
Hands-on moments are most memorable when students can predict the outcome first.

Learning objectives

Practice making observations and explaining evidence.
Recognize that science is collaborative, creative, and accessible.

Photo record

Scenes from the event.

A closer look at the experiments, conversations, and student-led stations from the evening.

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FEB 27, 2026