The Fairmount fourth-grade class had an electrifying experience when parent John Sumida, a high school science teacher, came to school to demonstrate some of the key concepts about electricity and magnetism that the students had been learning in science class.

Through a variety of demonstrations, Sumida illustrated how electricity travels and how positive and negatively charged molecules react with one another. Through questions posed by Sumida, it was clear that the students had a sound understanding of the concepts that they had learned in class, which made his demonstrations and interactions with the children very meaningful. The highlight of his lesson was the Van de Graaf generator; the results were hair-raising.

Photos and story by Anthony Coglianese