NORTHFIELD — Meandering through Pioneer Valley Regional School’s crowded cafeteria Thursday night, community members would suddenly jump in surprise, hearing a loud pop somewhere beyond the rows of tables and poster boards.
The pop came from eighth-grader Isabella Daye’s pneumatic cannon, a project made largely from PVC pipes that took a month to build. Daye’s cannon was among the diverse array of projects on display for community members during Pioneer’s science night, held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday.
According to Principal Jean Bacon, all science classes in grades 7 through 12 were invited to participate, filling the cafeteria and several classrooms and hallways throughout the building with diagrams, posters, chain reaction projects and even dissections.
Self-described “chorus kid” Lilly Kilburn, a Pioneer eighth-grader, felt inspired to research how listening to music affects the brain, particularly during test taking. Though she found some contradicting theories in her research, Kilburn also found that listening to pleasurable music allows the brain to release the chemical dopamine, leading individuals to be less stressed.
“For all of the kids, it’s very good, especially those who have mental illnesses,” Kilburn explained. Plus, she added, music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human function.
Fellow eighth-grader Lily van Baaren decided to focus on biology, putting together displays of the body’s various organ systems.
“I’ve just always been interested in anatomy and physiology,” van Baaren said. “It’s a part of you and yet you don’t really know anything about it.”
No matter what their interest, the students’ projects attracted community members to the school, with whom the students shared their knowledge with enthusiasm.
“It’s just great to see so many families here,” Bacon said. “I think that’s what we need.”