Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/501801
34 / MAY.JUNE.2015 RINKMAGAZINE.COM REAL PROGRAMS Successful programs to consider adopting O n wintry Wednesday mornings at the Palouse Ice Rink in Moscow, Idaho, pucks fly across the ice and fifth- grade kids enthusiastically chase them down. All kinds of pucks — blue youth pucks, light foam pucks, heavy orange training pucks, and, of course, regulation- size hockey pucks. As Sir Isaac Newton himself would have predicted, these kids observe that lighter pucks travel farther than heavier pucks if the same force is applied; in this case, from specially designed slingshots. There is no other hockey equipment in sight. Instead, the kids are armed with clipboards, data sheets and measuring tapes as they record the variable distances the pucks traveled across the ice after being propelled from slingshots designed for hockey pucks. It's Science on Ice! In this innovative program, fifth-grade classes come to the local community rink for an hour of science activities that focus on the physics of water, ice, momentum, acceleration and friction — all of which come into play in the skating portion of the program. Following an The Coolest Field Trip EVER Science on Ice filling Palouse Ice Rink in Idaho PHOTOS: COURTESY OF PALOUSE ICE RINK by WENDY LAWRENCE and ANDY HUDAK "These kids come back because they have a pass, then they sign up for skate lessons or get into the learn-to-play hockey sessions. It's been a great asset." —Rink Manager Chris Storhok