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Wilkes gets $1.65 million bequest to fund experiences outside the classroom

Our view: Diamonds for Geisinger’s offer of land

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; As middle-school students fed a &#8220;pitfall&#8221; plant &#8212; a cone-shaped carnivore that&#8217;s so steep once bugs and sometimes bigger prey falls in, they can&#8217;t escape &#8212; one young boy blurted out a warning to a partner.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re going to lose your hand!&#8221;</p><p>Well, not so much, Biology Professor William Terzaghi told the cluster of middle school students participating in a 25-minute, hands-on lesson about stimuli for plants, including feeding the ones that eat live critters. While the poor, trapped insect faces a slow death by digestive juices lasting four or five days, a human hand is safe from entrapment in the bile.</p><p>About 250 fifth-grade students from Berwick Area School District trotted between different science stations Friday morning as part of Wilkes University&#8217;s &#8220;Adventures in Science.&#8221; This particular stop was ominously dubbed &#8220;The pitcher of doom&#8221; because, you know, those plants looked a bit like pitchers.</p><p>It could have just as easily been named &#8220;Little Pot of Horrors,&#8221; but that&#8217;s been taken by a supplier of Venus Fly Traps, which were used in the next demonstration. Students got small potted plants, a container of tiny worm-like bugs and a pair of tweezers.</p><p>Alexandra Perez, who found the pitfall plant demonstration &#8220;cool, but disgusting,&#8221; didn&#8217;t hesitate in trying to feed a plant &#8212; though she did drop the food multiple times before landing it in the tiny green &#8220;jaws,&#8221; gazing intently as they slowly snapped shut.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s fun to watch,&#8221; the 12-year-old conceded. &#8220;Actually, I&#8217;m doing really good in my science class.&#8221;</p><p>In the &#8220;Gak, splat, boom&#8221; session next door, students had finished making a flexible putty from water, baby powder, Borax soap and a bit of Elmer&#8217;s glue. They gathered around a mini-volcano on the floor surrounded by toy soldiers and watched as Christina Gambino, a junior majoring in biology, poured baking soda and vinegar into the cone, evincing a spewing of white foam spilling down the slope.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to get him!&#8221; one student gasped, apparently worried for a favorite green GI at the base of the faux mountain.</p><p>And in a room downstairs, Environmental Science Professor Mark Kaster was doling out infrared thermometers that students pointed at various objects getting instant temperature readings. Trinity Eveland, 11, found her own forehead a few tenths of a degree cooler than her partners, though both topped 96 degrees.</p><p>She also measured the air in front of her, at 75.9 degrees, and the air in front of a visiting journalist, at 74.2 degrees.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Berwick Area fifth-grader Hunter Brown studies crime scene evidence under a microscope with fellow student Ricky Bower during the &#8216;Adventures in Science&#8217; event at Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. The students also learned about carnivorous plants and took part in other demonstrations. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042917sciencewilkes1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Berwick Area fifth-grader Hunter Brown studies crime scene evidence under a microscope with fellow student Ricky Bower during the &#8216;Adventures in Science&#8217; event at Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. The students also learned about carnivorous plants and took part in other demonstrations. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042917sciencewilkes3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick Area middle school students Jarrett Samsel, Willow Siecko, Justin Thaller and Christopher Gensel get help from Wilkes University student Danay Rosa on a solar photography project in Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042917sciencewilkes3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Berwick Area middle school students Jarrett Samsel, Willow Siecko, Justin Thaller and Christopher Gensel get help from Wilkes University student Danay Rosa on a solar photography project in Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center on Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042917sciencewilkes5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick Area fifth-grader Shelby Mowery, 10, waits for instructions for the mock crime scene investigation during &#8216;Adventures in Science&#8217; at Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center on Friday. Sitting in front of her is fellow student Ricky Bower. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042917sciencewilkes5.jpg</photo2><caption2>Berwick Area fifth-grader Shelby Mowery, 10, waits for instructions for the mock crime scene investigation during &#8216;Adventures in Science&#8217; at Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center on Friday. Sitting in front of her is fellow student Ricky Bower. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042917sciencewilkes4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick Area middle school students develop prints for a solar photograph as part of a short science session at Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042917sciencewilkes4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Berwick Area middle school students develop prints for a solar photograph as part of a short science session at Wilkes University&#8217;s Cohen Science Center on Friday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Berwick students feed flytraps and test law of physics at Wilkes event