VALPARAISO | Valparaiso University meteorology majors Rich Krupar and Chris Dannhausen crouched down on the floor and covered their ears.

A dozen Polk Elementary School fifth-graders followed suit.

The demonstration of what to do in case of lightning was part of VU's annual Meteorology Field Day attended by 700 elementary and middle school students from area schools Tuesday.

Dannhausen, a junior from Fort Wayne, continued the demonstration of electricity's properties by holding one hand on a Van de Graaff generator and passing a charge to students with a touch of the other hand.

"The kids love the experiments," said Barbara Duda, a teacher at the Lake Station school. She pointed to another station boasting a simulated tornado inside a wind chamber.

"I found this interesting myself," she said. "This is very interesting, very cool."

At another station, ping pong balls and a hair dryer were put into service to teach about wind velocity and pressure. At another, peas and pineapple showed the sizes that hail can come in.

"It's all been very impressive," Sue Gore, a fourth grade teacher at Saint Patrick School in Chesterton, said. "The kids really love the tornado -- anything that's hands-on."

Krupar, a senior from Cleveland, said the goal of the event, which was sponsored by VU's chapter of the national meteorology honor society Chi Epsilon Pi, was to share knowledge and get the younger students engaged in science.

Also attending were students from Central Elementary School in Portage, Simatovich Elementary School in Union Township, Parkview and Northview Elementary Schools in Valparaiso, Kouts Elementary School, St. Paul Catholic School in Valparaiso and Wanatah Public School.