Chemistry Everyday for Everyone

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 11 November 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education 1505

For a number of years we have been organizing andteaching a special outreach course during our Winter StudyProgram (the month of January) here at Williams College.Originally the course was called “Science on the Road”, butrecently it has been reorganized and renamed “Science forKids”. Under the new format, college students plan, develop,and present hands-on workshops to fourth-grade students andtheir parents, with faculty providing logistical support andpedagogical advice. Recent topics have been “Forensic Sci-ence”, “Electricity and Magnetism”, “Chemistry and Cook-ing”, “Waves”, “Natural Disasters”, “Liquids”, “Pressure”,“Color and Light”, “Momentum and Inertia”, “Illusions”, and“The Senses”. This program has been a great success for allinvolved: the college students gain an insight into an aspect ofscience and what it takes to develop and teach that topic, theelementary school students get a chance to participate in anexciting and challenging scientific exploration, and the par-ents have a chance to learn a bit of science while spendingtime working on projects with their children. We provide herean overview of the pedagogical aims of our current approachand a sense of the time-line for putting together such a pro-gram within a month. In this article, the word “students” isreserved for the college students and the word “kids” refersto the fourth graders.

Science on the Road

The original format of our January term outreach course,Science on the Road, was similar in concept to other highlysuccessful “science on wheels” programs (1–8) and other out-reach programs (9–17 ) that have been reported. Our studentsspent three to four weeks designing science presentations forthe elementary and high school levels, then carried out thepresentations during class periods at the local schools. Theadvantage of this format was that the whole class and theteachers saw the presentation together and could, therefore,build upon the scientific concepts in future classes. However,a number of drawbacks were associated with this format aswell: the need to work around the schedules of the differentteachers, the relatively short time periods that could beallotted for such a presentation during a regular school day,and the difficulties involved in transporting equipment andsupplies. The end result of these drawbacks was that it wasimpossible to make use of larger equipment or to providemuch in the way of hands-on experience; the presentationswere essentially short lectures illustrated with interestingdemonstrations.

Science for Kids

Our revised (and current) format for our January-termoutreach program was developed to address many of theconcerns mentioned above and to provide a somewhatdifferent focus. The first important decision was to target avery specific age range. It is well known that relatively youngchildren have a great deal of inherent scientific curiosity (8,18), but that a variety of factors tend to dampen this naturalcuriosity as early as the middle school years. We decided that4th-grade children were at an ideal age. They have a sufficientattention span and sophistication to follow a description ofa simple experiment or to understand explanations of differentconcepts, while at the same time being young enough to getexcited about learning something new. In addition, we wantedour college students to act as “up-close” and realistic rolemodels for the kids, and fourth-grade children are receptiveto college students as role models in a way that older stu-dents might not be. Because we were interested in develop-ing a very hands-on intensive program, we decided to bringthe kids to campus on weekends for the workshops ratherthan having our students travel to their elementary schoolson regular school days. This frees us from the constraints ofthe normal classroom schedule, allowing us to address indi-vidual topics in greater depth (our workshops are designedto run for about two hours each). Because we are able to useteaching laboratories at Williams College and because we nolonger have to transport all our materials, we have the spaceand the materials readily available to provide the kids with a

Science for Kids Outreach Programs:College Students Teaching Science to ElementarySchool Students and Their Parents W

Birgit G. Koehler, Lee Y. Park, and Lawrence J. KaplanDepartment of Chemistry, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267

Chemistry for Kidsedited by

John T. MooreStephen F. Austin State University

Nacogdoches, TX 75962

David TolarR. C Fisher SchoolAthens, TX 75751

Figure 1. Kid and parent collaboration. Mapping the tongue forsensitivity to different tastes such as sour and bitter. (Courtesy ofJoel Librizzi, Berkshire Eagle, reprinted with permission.)

Chemistry Everyday for Everyone

1506 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 11 November 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu

much more extensive hands-on experience than in our pre-vious outreach programs.

We were also interested in addressing parental involvement.Since it is often difficult for parents to answer all the questionsa child might have, the idea of trying a science experimentat home might prove daunting to many nonscientist parents.We therefore felt that it was critical to include the parentsin the workshops. We encouraged the kids and their parentsto work as a team (see Fig. 1) in performing the different

experiments, with the hope of inspiring them to continueonce they returned home. Part of the requirement for ourcollege students is that they provide supplemental notes toeach kid–parent team with instructions and suggestions forrepeating experiments at home or for new experiments thatthey might try on their own. Involving the parents in sucha workshop was a central feature of two other successfuloutreach programs carried out at IBM1 and at the Universityof Wisconsin–Oshkosh (19).

stne

mirep

xEf

og

nilp

maS

ad

na

scip

oTp

ohs

kro

Wt

neceR.

1el

baT

WW WWW3,

FCIS

NERO

SE

CNEI

C

I I%I I I%I I

enecse

mirctaecnedivefo

noitcelloC

)emoh

ekat,yhpargotamorhc(

sisylanaknI

)secidnievitcarfer(

sisylanassal

G)

MES(sisylanaria

H)stnirp

sselknie

mohekat(

gnitnirpregniFsisylana

doolb)laicifitrA(

sisylanacirbaF E

YTICIRT

CELD

NA

MMSITE

NG

A

I%I%I%I%I I

retawfo

pucni

krocdna

eldeena

morfeda

mssap

moC

yticirtcelecitatsrof

sllabgnop-gnip

dnasnoollaB

yticirtcelecitats

htiwreta

wfomaerts

agnidneB

epocsortcelEsgnilif

norihti

wdetartsno

medsdleif

citengaM

rotarenegffaarG

ednav C

YRTSIME

HD

NA

CG

NIKO

O

I%I%I%I%I%I%

hguodgnisir

dnatsaeYtset

hcratsenidoI

sesab/sdicarofrotacidnieciuj-egabbac

dnarepapsu

mtiLslaerec

deifitrofmorf

norifonoitcartxEdoof

nitaFdratsu

mhti

wgnisserd

dalasfonoitacifislu

mE LS

DIU

QI

I%I%I%I%I%I%I

sdiuqillarevesfosecnereffid

ytisneddna

ytilibicsim

mIreta

wno

pilcrepapsdloh

noisnetecafruS

snacados

espallocot

erusserpcirehpso

mtA

lohocladnareta

wfose

mulovgnixi

Mebuc

ecidna,tlas,gnirts:noisserpedtniop

gnizeerFreta

whti

wdellif

pucrepapgninrubno

N)e

mohekat(

emilS N

LAR

UTA

DSRETS

ASI

I%

2 I%I%I

dicaciteca

htiw

dereggirt,adosgnikab

htiw

dellifelttob

dnadnas

morfeda

monacloV

HN(

morfonacloV

4) 2

rC

2O

7snac

adosespalloc

oterusserp

cirehpsomt

A)e

mohekat(

selttobados

niodanroT

rotarenegffaarG

ednav M

MUT

NEM

OI,

AITREN

,D

NA

CRET

NEF

OM

SSA

I%I I I I

llawtsniaga

dna,riahcni,roolf

nosesicrexe

suoiraVtrac-hsuP

wolsdnatsaf

gninnipsrofelbatnruT

sehsidrednumorftuo

delluphtolc

elbaTwaseeS WSEV

A

2 2 I%

2 2 I I 2 I%

eivom

egdirBs

worraN

amocaT

thgileborts

htiw

sevaw

gnilevartdna

gnidnatsrofdraobeva

Wseva

wyknils

dnagnirtS

loopevaW

enohporcim

dnaepocsollics

Oseltsih

w-edilSthgil

ebortsdna

skrofgninuT

rajmuucav

edisnirezzuB)e

mohekat(

enohpolyxekil

skcitsnedoo

wdezis-suoirav:enot

ecnanosersusrev

eziS

CR

OLO

DN

AL

TH

GI

2 2 I%I I 2

tniapdnathgil

nisrolo

Csroloc

yramirpfo

noitcejorPtniap

nisroloc

yramirp

gnixiM

sretlifderoloc

hguorhtde

weivstcejbo

deroloC

gnirettacsdna

noitcarferthgiLgninevetaroloc

yksder

eht;yksehtforoloc

eulbehT C

ROL

OL,

TH

GI,

DN

AP

YHP

ARG

OTO

H

I%I%

2 I I%I%

)emoh

ekat(tniapdnathgil

nisrolo

C)e

mohekat(

aremac

eloh-niPyhpargotohproloc

dnaetih

w-dna-kcalByhpargotohp

dioraloPsenoc

dnasdorfo

noitarutas:thgiSssendnilbrolo

C PER

USSER

I I I%

2%

2 I

erusserpcirehpso

mtagnita

mixorpparableetSserehpsi

mehgrubedga

Msnac

adosespalloc

oterusserp

cirehpsomt

Aerusserp

cirtemoraB

ecI:erusserprednu

gnitlem

agnittuc

kcolbhti

wecifo

adna

eriw

sthgiew

erusserpdoolB T

EH

SSES

NE

I%I%I%I%I%

skcirpnip

otytivitisnes:hcuoT

teews

dna,rettib,ytlas,ruosot

ytivitisnes:etsaTsexelfeR

senocdna

sdorfonoitarutas:thgiSssendnilbrolo

C DR

OTC

O'S

VTISI

I%I 2 I I I 2 %

maxen

wofoseton

gnipeekroftrahcknalB

trahceyE

sesnelevitcerroctuohti

w/htiw

egami

sesucoftahteyefoledo

mbluB

epocsohtetSseguag

erusserpdoolB

)doolblaicifitrahti

w(gnipyt

doolBsenob

dnanotelekS

skcapdloc

dnatoH I

SN

OISULL

I%I%

2 2

snoisullilacitpO

snoisulliroloC

erutanni

egalfuoma

Ctra

nisnoisullI A

YM

ON

ORTS

2 2 2 I%I%I 2

muiratenalpegelloc

ninoitatneserptrohS

stcejbolaitselecfosedilS

selacse

mitlacimonortsafo

strahC

ruolffosehsid

niselbbep

gnippordyb

edam

sretarcranuLsthgilhsalf

htiw

sespilceranuldnaralos

gnitalumis;noo

mehtfo

sesahPstik

epocseletelp

misfoylb

messA

kcedgnivresbo

egellocforuoTI

.no-sdnaherataht

stnemirepxe

setoneD

%.e

mohtataepernac

sdikehttaht

stnemirepxe

setoneD

2.snoitartsno

medsa

deweiv

eratahtstne

mirepxesetone

D

Chemistry Everyday for Everyone

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 11 November 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education 1507

As in the original format, the college students spend mostof the month of January designing their workshops: collecting,buying, or building the materials needed, and developing andpracticing their presentations. Then, in the final weekend ofthe Winter Study period, 4th graders, each accompanied byone parent, come to campus to participate in two workshops,one in the morning and another in the afternoon. With fouror five workshops running simultaneously, the program canaccommodate 60 kid–parent pairs on a given day with 12 to15 pairs per workshop. The program is designed so that eachkid–parent pair attends only two of the five workshops be-ing presented. Owing to the length of each workshop (twohours), it is not possible for them attend all five.

Design of the “Science for Kids” Workshops

Since our Winter Study term is so brief (less than fourweeks), we encourage the students to organize into groups ofthree to four during the fall semester and begin brainstorm-ing about science topics that they’d like to develop into work-shops. They may choose topics from any area of science thatinterests them. Science catalogs2 and demonstration referencebooks (20–26 )3 provide inspiration at this stage. The first twoand a half weeks in January are then spent developing the work-shops, working out the experiments, and deciding on the bestlevel at which to present the information. The faculty ad-visors serve as a resource for everything from content to peda-gogical approaches for the presentations. As the workshopsbegin to take shape, each team of students also prepares supple-mentary notes (2–5 pages) for the kids and their parents.These notes describe how to do some of the experiments athome and give further suggestions for other simple experi-ments that can be done. Many of the workshops have one ortwo “experiments” that the kids can take home. For example,in the Natural Disasters workshop, the kids were shown howto simulate tornadoes by taping two 2-liter soda bottles togetherand partially filling them with colored water. This was an ideal“prop” for the kids to take home to demonstrate to others orto make at home themselves. Table 1 gives examples of thetypes of workshops that have been developed and the hands-on experiments that have been included.

During the third week of January, several days before thescheduled workshops, each group does a full “dress rehearsal”.Students from the other workshop groups and the facultyadvisors serve as the audience during this run-through, tryingto ask probing questions during the presentations, intentionallymaking mistakes which the kids might make during thehands-on experiments, and providing helpful advice. Inparticular, the run-through allows the students to work outthe logistics of making sure there are enough supplies toprovide each kid–parent team with experimental materialsand to consider the pedagogical difficulties of explaining acomplicated scientific concept to a 4th-grade audience. Therest of that week is dedicated to correcting problems andpolishing the presentation.

Specific Examples

Chemistry and CookingAn example of a workshop with a chemistry theme is

Chemistry and Cooking. With the help of a diagram, thestudents discussed the conversion of sugar to carbon dioxide

by yeast, then made a simple flour, sugar, yeast, and waterdough. The dough was put aside, and the kids could observehow much it rose over time. The second experiment involvedtesting food for starch content with iodine. For this, theparticipants were divided into groups and provided with adropper bottle of iodine solution and a paper plate with avariety of food items (rice, potato, peanut butter, sugar). Withthe help of the students they were able to test the differentfoods for starch. A third exercise, again with full participationby the kids and their parents, tested the acidity/basicity ofvarious foods with both litmus paper and an indicator solutionmade from red cabbage. After a short break, the studentsdiscussed iron supplements in food and showed how a magnetcan extract visible amounts of iron from commercial cereals.The students then discussed emulsions and demonstrated thatmustard can act as an emulsifier in an oil–vinegar mixture.The final experiment tested foods for fat by rubbing sampleson white paper and observing the resulting translucence. Inthe handout for this workshop, the students discussed andgave instructions for home experiments on extracting ironfrom cereals, making emulsions, and using cabbage juice asan indicator. The handout also listed references for two booksdescribing chemistry experiments for kids and an adult-levelbook on the science of cooking.

Forensic ScienceForensic Science is an example of a workshop that draws

on a wider range of scientific topics (27). In this workshopthe participants are presented with a crime scene such as acar accident, a theft, or a kidnapping. These crime scenes areeither staged or presented through photographs/video. In thetheft scenario, for instance, a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon por-traying a break-in at Calvin’s home was used. For the kid-napping scenario, a film clip from the movie Hook in whichparents receive a ransom note was used. The kids and par-ents then collect evidence from the crime scene: glass frag-ments (which have been fire polished to remove sharp edges),fiber or fabric samples, fingerprints, blood (simulated), hairsamples, and ink from a ransom note. The participants thentake the various samples they have collected to the “crimelab” where they compare their evidence against samples ob-tained by the “investigators” (the college students) from the“prime suspects”. The participants characterize the variousglass fragments by immersing them in a series of oils pre-pared by mixing clove oil and olive oil, to compare their re-fractive indices. The fibers/fabrics can be characterized bytheir interaction with different dyes; while the details of theinteraction of the dyes with the fabrics are not discussed, thekids can appreciate that wool, cotton, and synthetic fibersshould have different chemical structures and therefore reactdifferently to the different stains. For blood analysis, syntheticblood and antisera are used to realistically simulate the blood-typing process. The participants are shown how to lift fin-gerprints from a surface with powder and also how to take aset of fingerprints using an inkless fingerprinting system. Fi-nally, paper chromatography is used to compare the inks froma variety of pens with the ink from the ransom note. Thisexperiment is easily repeated at home using coffee filters asthe chromatographic medium and water or vinegar as the de-veloping solvent.

Chemistry Everyday for Everyone

1508 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 11 November 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu

Benefits to College Students, Kids, and Parents

This program has been tremendously rewarding foreveryone involved. For the students, there is the experienceof conceiving, researching, and implementing a major projectthat is more involved than most projects for their other classes.They have to learn to work well in a group of their peers aswell as to work with a group of enthusiastic young kids. Theyget the instructor’s perspective on what is involved in running aclass. A number of students who have participated in Sciencefor Kids have chosen to teach after college and have citedthis experience as important in their decision. Even for thosenot intending to teach as a career, the experience of learningto express themselves clearly and to make their topic under-standable to 9- and 10-year-olds is invaluable.

The students participating in the program are not allscience majors. Many are first-year students and a number arejunior and senior majors in the humanities and social sciences.The course gives them a chance to do science differentlyfrom the way they would in a traditional science course orin an undergraduate research setting. They can focus on thevisual and pedagogical effect of an experiment and how it canhelp them clarify a scientific concept for a group of children,rather than worrying about strict protocols and obtainingprecise results. The students receive credit for one winter studycourse. (They need 1 winter study course per year, 4 totalfor graduation.)

For the 4th graders, of course, the workshops are awonderful experience. At that age, they are enthusiastic andopen-minded. They are thrilled to be spending the day on acollege campus, getting to work in college laboratories, andmeeting college students. We have heard of kids repeatingthe experiments for the other parent and for their siblings assoon as they returned home. We also encourage the kids totake the experiments into their classrooms for show-and-tell,and we have heard from a number of teachers and parentswhose kids have actually done this.

The parents’ response to the program has been over-whelmingly positive. They all learn a great deal of science andenjoy working with their kids in the workshops. One parentcommented that our workshops were the only nonathleticactivity he had ever shared with his child. Other parents havecommented that this was the first time they had ever hadthe chance to do any hands-on experiments themselves.Working as a team enables the parent and child to continuethinking about the science after the workshop, since they hadthe chance to make the same observations and try the sameexperiments. The presence of the parents also allows us toinclude some activities that our students could not superviseadequately without parental assistance.

Role of Faculty Advisors in Science for Kids

One of the main tasks of the faculty members involvedis to supervise the evolution of the workshops themselves, asdescribed above. The second task is to provide logisticalsupport: helping the students gather enough materials toaccommodate all the kid–parent teams, coordinating theinvitations and responses to and from the workshop participants,and coordinating the actual day of the workshops. We havefound that our program runs most smoothly with two facultymembers supervising approximately 16–20 college students.

Budget

Because we encourage the students to develop experimentsthat can be easily repeated at home, the costs involved aregenerally low, though this depends somewhat on the topicchosen as well as the resourcefulness of the students. We havefound that $25–$100 per workshop is a reasonable figure.This represents the cost of providing all hands-on materials forthe participants to do all of the experiments in the workshop.In addition, approximately $200 per year is spent for postageand photocopying the various mailings and handouts. Withjudicious planning, the entire program can be conducted forapproximately $600 to $1000. We do not charge for partici-pation in the workshops. Our financing comes from thewinter study program budget for the college.

Other Possibilities

We have presented here the basic outline of our programas it runs during our January term. There is a great deal offlexibility in this type of program, however, and it could easilybe adapted to a variety of other schedules or audiences. Oneyear, for instance, our workshops were presented for a groupof Upward Bound students from a local high school. Anotherpossibility would be for a local student ACS chapter todevelop a series of similar workshops and present them atvarious times during the year or to organize NationalChemistry Week activities around this type of program.

Acknowledgment

Reinhard A. Wobus of the Geosciences Departmentdeserves credit for cofounding the earliest incarnation of our“science-on-wheels” program with LJK.

NotesWAdditional supporting material such as more detailed descriptions

of our experiments, drafts of our letters to parents and teachers, regis-tration forms, and a copy of our detailed calendar of organization forthe program is available on JCE Online at http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/Journal/issues/1999/Nov/abs1505.html.

1. LYP participated in “Family Science”, organized by the LocalEducation Outreach Program at IBM, T. J. Watson Research Center,1993, unpublished.

2. Carolina Science and Math Catalog, Carolina Biological Sup-ply Company, Burlington, NC; Ward’s Biology Catalogue, Ward’s,Rochester, NY; Frey Scientific Catalog, Beckley Cardy Group,Mansfield, OH; Flinn Chemical & Biological Catalog ReferenceManual, Flinn Scientific, Batavia, IL.

3. We encouraged our students to consult local public and elemen-tary school libraries, standard demonstration reference books, catalogs,museums, and other professors and technical assistants. The activitiespresented here are derived from all of these sources. which are toonumerous to list comprehensively.

Literature Cited

1. Hermens, R. A. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 165–167.2. Heinze, K. F.; Allen, J. L.; Jacobsen, E. N. J. Chem. Educ. 1995,

72, 167–169.3. Lopez-Garriga, J.; Munoz-Sola, Y.; Torres, V.; Echevarria, Y.;

Nazario, W.; Jesus-Bonilla, W. d.; Camacho-Zapata, R. J. Chem.Educ. 1997, 74, 1346–1349.

4. Tracy, H. J.; Collins, C.; Langevin, P. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72,1111–1112.

Chemistry Everyday for Everyone

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 11 November 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education 1509

5. Kelter, P.; Hughes, K.; Murphy, A.; Condon, K.; Heil, P.; Lehman,M.; Netz, D.; Wagner, T. J. Chem. Educ. 1994, 71, 864–866.

6. Waldman, A. S.; Schechinger, L.; Nowick, J. S. J. Chem. Educ.1996, 73, 762–764.

7. Nowick, J. S.; Brisbois, R. G. J. Chem. Educ. 1989, 66, 668.8. Seager, S. L.; Swenson, K. T. J. Chem. Educ. 1987, 64, 157–

159.9. Van Doren, J. M.; Nestor, L. P.; Knighton, W. B. J. Chem. Educ.

1997, 74, 1178–1179.10. Gammon, S. D.; Graduate Students for Chemical Education.

J. Chem. Educ. 1994, 71, 1077–1079.11. Gennaro, E.; Lawrenz, F. J. Chem. Educ. 1989, 66, 1031–1032.12. Greco, T. G.; Greco, C. B. J. Chem. Educ. 1987, 64, 537–538.13. Hill, A. E.; Berger, S. A. J. Chem. Educ. 1989, 66, 230–231.14. Howard, R. E.; Barnes, S.; Hollingsworth, P. J. Chem. Educ. 1989,

66, 512–514.15. Koppang, M. D.; Webb, K. M.; Srinivasan, R. R. J. Chem. Educ.

1994, 71, 929–931.16. Russo, R. N.; Parrish, S. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 49–50.17. Shaw, C. F.; Greenler, R. G.; Lasca, N. P.; Brooks, A. S. J. Chem.

Educ. 1992, 69, 1020–1023.18. Yager, R. E. Sci. Child. 1983, 20, 20.

19. Kelter, P. B.; Paulson, J. R.; Benbow, A. J. Chem. Educ. 1990,67, 892–895.

20. Borgford, C. L.; Summerlin, L. R. Chemical Activities; AmericanChemical Society: Washington, DC, 1988.

21. Shakahashiri, B. Z. Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook forTeachers of Chemistry, Vol. 1; The University of Wisconsin Press:Madison, WI, 1983.

22. Shakahashiri, B. Z. Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook forTeachers of Chemistry, Vol. 2; The University of Wisconsin Press:Madison, WI, 1985.

23. Shakahashiri, B. Z. Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook forTeachers of Chemistry, Vol. 3; The University of Wisconsin Press:Madison, WI, 1989.

24. Shakahashiri, B. Z. Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook forTeachers of Chemistry, Vol. 4; The University of Wisconsin Press:Madison, WI, 1992.

25. Summerlin, L. R.; Ealy, J. L. Chemical Demonstrations; Vol. 1,2nd ed.; The American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1988.

26. Summerlin, L. R.; Borgford, C. L.; Daly, J. B. Chemical Demon-strations: A Source Book for Teachers; Vol. 2, 2nd ed.; The AmericanChemical Society: Washington, DC, 1988.

27. Kaplan, L. J. Crime Lab. Dig. 1992, 19 (4), 107–132.