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Published: Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 / Updated: Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 05:00 PM

Bethany students learn science is cool

Science club allows students to dissect frogs, explore electricity

CLOVER -- 

Keegan Lewis says science is cool.

Mining gems, learning about magnets, climbing through the inside of an inflatable whale and dissecting frogs are just a few of the ways that Keegan and other students are learning about science.

Keegan and many of his classmates are among about 100 students in grades three to five who signed up this year for an after-school science club at Clover’s Bethany Elementary School.

“We started it just to get them more interested in science,” said Carrie Wise, a math and science teacher who is among those leading the club. “The students told their friends about it, and there were so many that wanted to get involved that we had to split them up.”

This year, in the second year of the club, Wise said, the school offers two different science club groups, each of which meet once every other week for about an hour after school.

The club aims to offer hands-on science experiences — from making and flying paper airplanes and bottle rockets to learning how static electricity can make your hair stand on end.

“We do things we don’t have time to do in the classroom,” Wise said. And she said the club has been popular among students. “They ask every week, is this my week for science club?”

A recent program involved dissecting frogs and identifying organs including the liver, stomach and other organs. Said Keegan: “I think it’s cool that we can see the insides just by opening it.”

Kaylynn Sexton described it a different way: “Awesome.”

The frog dissection program was presented by Christie Rhoney from the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, N.C., who has visited the school to conduct several science programs. Wise said the school obtained a grant to bring the Schiele Museum into the school for six weeks to present programs.

Wise said the program uses scientific terms that students need to know in all its lessons. And she said it appears to have achieved its objective: “It’s gotten them very excited about science.”