By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

Amanda Ross, a junior at Lakota East High School, and Dylan Vukovic, a student at Clinton-Massie Middle School, participate in the Energy Fair on Tuesday. (Gary Landers photo)

When elementary students pedal the "Energy Bike," light bulbs illuminate - and not just the ones on display.

Intellectual light bulbs are also popping on as students see their efforts produce electricity through a generator hooked to the bike.

"We test kids before and after the activities, and our test results always show that they've learned a significant amount afterward," said Amanda Ross, 16, a junior at Lakota East High School and a fourth-year Ohio Energy Project student leader.

Amanda and about 80 other junior high and high school students from Forest Hills, Franklin, Norwood, Winton Woods, Springboro and Loveland school districts spent Tuesday teaching more than 500 students in grades 4-6 about energy sources, energy forms, energy efficiency and energy conservation at the fourth annual Ohio Energy Project Energy Fair.

Student leader Jenni Birt said "seeing" versus "just hearing" really helps kids understand the scientific concepts.

"It's one thing to say 'recycle,' but it's another to know why and how it works," said Birt, 17, a junior at Norwood High School.

WORKSHOPS

If you missed Tuesday's Energy Fair, don't despair. Fair coordinator Debby Yerkes can customize teacher-training workshops for any Ohio school. Ohio Energy Project, established in 1984, offers education programs on sources, forms and transformations of energy; electricity; energy efficiency; and environmental and economic impacts of energy use. All programs are correlated to Ohio Proficiency Outcomes and Science Standards. Call 688-1717 or e-mail swenergy@infinet.com.

The regional event, part of the National Energy Education Development Project, is the largest energy fair hosted by a NEED affiliate.

Energy Fair coordinator Debby Yerkes said the fair is designed to make students aware of energy sources, teach them how to use it efficiently and how to conserve it.

The fair, held at Cincinnati Museum Center, featured hands-on learning activities for students from Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont and Clinton counties.

Rachel Starnes, a sixth-grade teacher from Clinton-Massie Middle School, attendedthe fair for the first time this year. She brought 30 students.

"My goal is to take these kids back and have them teach the others," Starnes said. Starnes' idea - and the Energy Fair's "student facilitator" approach - is part of a trend in education for students to teach other students.

"The thing we really like is kids teaching kids," said Rich Smith, executive director of Ohio Energy Project.

"Science can be a boring subject if you teach it with just words," Smith said. "But it's fascinating if you teach it with hands-on activities."

Nationally, the approach to teaching science is changing dramatically to help improve traditionally low proficiency scores in the subject, and to prepare students for the burgeoning technological world.

E-mail annag376@aol.com