Caleb Baker couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong with his robotic race car.

That’s when the third grader learned about revolution – how the size of a tire affects speed – and quickly pulled a new tire out of a robotics kit.

“We had to put the new wheel in because it’s faster,” Baker said.

He was at one of 15 workshops at DeMello Elementary’s second Beyond the Books Night on March 30. From the robotics station – hosted by the Dartmouth High School robotics team – to cake decorating, dancing, arts and crafts, and basketball, parent and teacher volunteers stepped in to share their passions in an after-school enrichment program, explained Principal Cathy Maccini.

At the robotics station, Dartmouth High School senior Ashley Vieira helped Baker’s group through learning exercises, but they didn’t need much of it.

“I’m not telling them what to do. I’m more of guiding them,” Vieira said. “They’re doing pretty good.”

“We wanted to show off robotics to the community and create an early interest in robotics,” added Vaibhav Dubey, a freshman on the robotics team.

Down the hall, fourth grader Nathan Bickett discovered what happens when water and paint mix.

“It spread and the colors blended in with other colors,” he explained, holding up a drawing he made with a fusion of colors all mixed together with a little water.

It was one of several activities in the “Power of Water” workshop. Teachers Melissa Pickering, Cheryl Allen, and Kelsie Brejcha also created a penny drop experiment and a challenge to see which items would float or sink in a bucket of water.

In another room, Chad Beattie, who practices sports medicine at Hawthorn Medical, showed students procedures in a typical check-up, how X-rays are taken, and how casts are made – and removed.

“There’s been a lot of curiosity,” Beattie said. “The casting has been the most exciting part, and students loved to look in their ears too.”

The event brought in a total of 129 students, Maccini said. It coincided with the DeMello PTO’s “Parents Night Out” fundraiser at Fay’s for parents.

“It worked out very nice. Parents enjoyed the evening out knowing their children are having a good time,” Maccini said.