Lynn’s Tracy School kids floating on air

LYNN – With the start of the leaf-blower, the wooden table top slowly lifted off the ground, taking Tracy Elementary School fifth grader Tianna Evelyn on the ride of her academic life Tuesday.The makeshift hovercraft may have only been a few inches off the ground, but the giggles and cheers of her classmates and the curious peering of teachers and students passing by the classroom proved just how unique such an experience is at any grade level.The small, makeshift hovercraft is one of the many unique scientific experiments being done in Bessie Broufas’ fifth grade class – an education opportunity made possible by the donations of local businesses.Students at the Tracy are in their second such year of scientific opportunity thanks to a grant partnership between General Electric in Lynn and the KnowAtom education organization, which specializes in bringing science, engineering and technology curriculum and lessons into schools.GE pays for all of the materials and the fees charged by KnowAtom thanks to a science grant written by Tracy School’s Jeanette McGarry.Once every other week, KnowAtom teacher Emily Vigaent and GE volunteer Rob Levine head to the Tracy to work with the fifth graders in Broufas’ class. In the two years that the partnership has been in place, the volunteers have worked with students in third, fourth and fifth grade at the school.Each meeting brings with it a different lesson, from pulleys and levers to horticulture, as students work with Vigaent and Levine to learn the basics of science and engineering.Using glue, batteries, a portable fan and a paper plate, students worked to build their own smaller hovercraft, while Vigaent demonstrated her larger, final product.Students say the lessons help teach elements of science they may not have learned otherwise, but take most of their enthusiasm from how much fun they have doing their experiments.