I am heartened to hear of great work being done by current and former colleagues to get K-12 kids involved in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). For example, Columbia Academy, a middle school (grades 6-8) in Columbia Heights (just north of Minneapolis), held an Engineering and Science Fair last month where two of our consultants, Pat Whitcomb and Brooks Henderson, joined a score of other professional engineers who reviewed student projects. Winners will present their projects this summer at the University of Minnesota’s STEM Colloquium.
Also, I ran across a fellow I worked with at General Mills years ago who volunteers his time to teach middle-schoolers around the Twin Cities an appreciation for chemistry. He makes use of the American Chemical Society (ACS) “Kids & Chemistry” program, which offers complete instructions and worksheets for many great experiments at middle-school level. Follow this link to discover:
– Chemistry’s Rainbow: “Interpret color changes like a scientist as you create acid and base solutions, neutralize them, and observe a colorful chemical reaction.”
– Jiggle Gels: “Measure with purpose and cause exciting physical changes as you investigate the baby diaper polymer,* place a super-absorbing dinosaur toy in water, and make slime.”
– What’s New, CO2? “Combine chemicals and explore the invisible gas produced to discover how self-inflating balloons work.”
– Several other intriguing activities contributed by ACS members.
Kudos to all scientists, engineers, mathematician/statisticians who are engaging kids in STEM!
*(The super-slurpers invented by the diaper chemists really are quite amazing as I’ve learned from semi-quantitative measurements of weight before and after soakings by my grandson. Thank goodness! Check out this video by “Professor Bunsen”, which includes a trick to recover the liquids that I am not going to try.)