Students touch a replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull nicknamed "Stan" in Radford University's natural history museum.

Photos by MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Christiansburg Middle School eighth-graders react to a loud noise made by a chemical reaction using dry ice and water during Radford University's Science Day.

Photos by MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

A dollar bill appears to be burning during a presentation at Radford University's Science Day. The bill was first dipped in rubbing alcohol, and as the chemical burns off, the bill is left practically undamaged.

Jack Brockway, a Radford University assistant physics professor, demonstrates the power of air pressure as he rides on a man-sized device during Science Day. The craft is run by an electric vacuum cleaner. "This is why you need to study the sciences," Brockway says.

| Anna L. Mallory

anna.mallory@roanoke.com, 381-8627

More than 100 Christiansburg Middle School students were treated to floating beach balls, glowing rocks and a peek at the night sky, all while indoors.

The school's eighth-graders visited Radford University on Thursday for its annual Science Day. The half-day visit, which Radford puts on a few times a year for different schools, is aimed at getting students excited about the sciences and thinking about college.

Radford's College of Science and Technology sponsors the event and allows students to tour the school's Museum of Earth Sciences, planetarium, greenhouse and chemistry and physics classrooms.

This year, students touring the museum created a mini-earthquake and measured it using the museum's seismic detector display. Students also made slime and learned how to burn a dollar bill without charring the paper.

"This is why you need to study the sciences," physics assistant professor Jack Brockway told students after showing them how to float a beach ball in the air using low air pressure, or Bernoulli's Principle.

Christiansburg teachers in all subjects said they use the science day as a teaching tool. English teacher Bobby Jo Hall said she has students write essays about the day's events.

FORT HOOD

Kipps to send bears to Texas military base

On Monday, students and staff at Kipps Elementary School sent about 300 "care bears" to Fort Hood military base in an effort to show support after the Nov. 5 shootings there.

They have been collecting the bears for more than a week and will continue to do so until Friday. Additional bears will be sent in a second shipment next week, said Principal Chris Widrig.

The drive is the idea of Kelly Rowland, a former Kipps teacher, and fourth-grade teachers Allison Dinkel and Stephanie Johnston and their students. The goal was to collect enough bears to give one to every classroom in the seven Fort Hood elementary schools.

"We want to send the students of Fort Hood a bear as a source of comfort and a reminder that they have friends who know what they're going through and care about them." Dinkel said.

The local drive is a continuation of a project started by students from Oklahoma City who sent "care bears" to a school in Washington, D.C., after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

That Washington school then sent a large box of stuffed bears to Kipps after the Virginia Tech shootings on April 16, 2007. Each time the bears were sent with messages of hope and encouragement.

"We understand their grief and hope that by sending these bears, they feel a little less alone," Widrig said.

ART SHOW

Children's Garden displays student work

Blacksburg primary school the Children's Garden will host its annual art show, starting at noon today.

Every year, students at the school on Gladewood Road study different artists, then students create their own artwork in the vein of those artists.