First-grade students at Wading River Elementary School learned about the science of toys with the help of a “mad scientist” from the leading science enrichment provider Mad Science of Long Island. The franchise works to provide exciting, hands-on learning experiences to children through workshops that are aligned to science, technology, engineering and mathematics objectives.

During their interactive lesson, the students were introduced to scientific concepts such as potential and kinetic energy, friction, polarity and more through the use of common toys such as balls, spinning tops and magnetic rail twirlers. They explored how motors make toys move, learned about the center of gravity and experienced how opposites attract through the use of magnetic poles. At the conclusion of the lesson, students were given a Mad Science yo-yo to continue their study of energy.