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Do-at-home projects can spark kids' interest in science
Sep 06, 2010 (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
So often, cool and thrilling activities come with a stern warning for kids: Don't try this at home.
Yet, with many science experiments for young ones, that's exactly the point: Please do try this at home. Use everyday household items, like vinegar, cloth, food wrapping and even potato chips. Make a mess. And see how much fun hands-on science can be, educators say.
"You want to demonstrate science, and you want to show that science is real, that it's not magic," says Mike Hennessy. He is program development coordinator science and education at the Carnegie Science Center on the North Side, which often does live experiments for audiences, like exploding diet soda by adding Mentos mints.
"The same things you see happening on stage are things you can do in your kitchen or your backyard," Hennessy says. "Science really is about doing; it's not just about collecting facts."
Several books on the market detail hundreds of at-home science experiments kids can do in their kitchens, living rooms, backyards or elsewhere. They can use the simplest things to create experiments which will show chemical or physical reactions that can be colorful, goopy, quirky and bizarre, experts say. Experiments focus on branches of science such as physics, chemistry, earth science and biology. Science appears in just about everything, says author Allen Kurzweil
"I think that ... we're surrounded by science," Kurzweil says. He is the author of "Potato Chip Science" book, and its matching bag contains items including biodegradable potato pellets and lids from potato chip cans.
"You don't need to go to a science museum to explore the world around you; you can just go to a recycling bin and salvage all sorts of materials," Kurzweil says.
"If I can get kids as excited about science as potato chips, then I think I've done my job," he says. "They have ample opportunity to make a mess using 'Potato Chip Science.'"
Doing hands-on science experiments stimulates children's minds in ways that wouldn't happen otherwise, Kurzweil says.
"Anything that reduces the hours in the day that kids are staring at video games and computer screens, and anything that compels them ... to use their minds ... I think actually benefits them and benefits society," he says. "It saddens me when a kid doesn't have an opportunity to explore the backyard or to explore the scientific world around them. If we can convince kids that it's very cool and fun to explode a potato chip can ... I think it's great, and I think kids think it's great, too."
In author Sean Connolly's two books -- "The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science: 64 Daring Experiments for Young Scientists," and "The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science: 50 Experiments for Daring Young Scientists" -- kids can explore and try out scientific concepts that were dangerous when first discovered, but are now safe and just interesting to do, he says. Ben Franklin could have been electrocuted while studying electricity, for instance, and early parachuters took great risks. But kids just risk making a mess while doing many of these experiments, like inflating a glove to look like a Frankenstein hand.
"People did some pretty cool and pretty dangerous things over the thousands of years of human history ... stuff that was wacky or crazy or deemed to be life-threatening," says Connolly, of England. With his experiments, though, the titles are comical.
"Parents can rest assured that there's not a potential catastrophe," he says.
Connolly says he hopes the books will get girls more interested in science, and boys more interested in reading. He says he hopes the experiments will spark kids' imaginations: If they can create a mini-earthquake using gelatin, what else can they use?
"I think the idea is that ... there's a bit of mystery and excitement, even around the most mundane things, like potatoes, straws, sandwich bags and pencils," Connolly says.
"They're unlocking a little bit of magic around the house."
Hands-on experiments are a valuable part of kids' scientific learning, says Leah Amato, a teacher at Hartwood Elementary School in Indiana Township. She encourages her fourth-graders to do experiments at home, then come back and tell their classmates what they learned.
"It makes science fun," Amato says. "It's definitely one of their favorite subjects that the kids have. They look forward to it every day."
Parents be warned: Kids may make a mess in at-home science, but that's part of the deal.
"I think the more mess, the more fun in anything they do," Amato says.
A ship with zip
Hydrofoil experiment. Dish soap gives this chip ship zip, the authors say.
Materials:
-- Scissors
-- Chip bag, any size
-- Bucket of water
-- Toothpick
-- Dish soap
Directions:
-- Cut a small triangle from an empty chip bag. This will be your chip ship.
-- Put some water in the bucket, and position your ship at the edge of the "lake" so that it points inward.
-- Dip one end of the toothpick in a drop of dish soap, then touch the toothpick to the water just behind the ship.
-- Watch your chip ship zip. If you want to repeat the experiment, you'll have to change the water.
Results: Water molecules tend to stick together, producing a clinging action called cohesion that gives water an invisible skin. However, a drop of dish soap reduces the surface tension in the water -- puncturing the skin. This triggers a molecular-level wave that pushes the ship forward.
Source: "Potato Chip Science Book," by Allen Kurzweil
Gobbledy Goo! It is a solid or a liquid?
Find out for yourself whether the substance is solid or liquid.
Materials:
-- Corn starch
-- Water
-- Food coloring
-- Spoon
Directions:
-- Fill a bowl with 2 cups of corn starch. Let an adult add 1 cup of water very slowly while you mix the mush by hand.
-- Add a little food coloring and keep mixing. What happens if you push the mixture with a spoon, or squeeze it through a colander?
-- Pick up some goo. Roll it in your hands to make a ball. Stop and let the ball rest. Does it stay where it is? Or slip through your fingers?
-- Plunge your hand back into the goo. Squeeze it hard, squeeze it slow, open your hand and let it flow. Is it a solid, or a liquid?
Results: Your goo is sometimes a solid and sometimes a liquid, because the corn starch doesn't really dissolve. The starch forms a suspension of tiny, solid pieces that hang around in the water. Scientists call it a colloid. The harder you press it, the more water is pushed out, and the more a colloid acts like a solid. When you handle it gently, it runs like a liquid.
Source: "I'm a Scientist: Kitchen" by Lisa Burke, DK Publishing
Frankenstein's Hand
Here's a "hands-on" demonstration that shows a chemical reaction. You can give this experiment a Halloween flavor by marking the glove with bones, veins and screws. You also can add a little ketchup at the bottom of the glove, just to raise the gore factor.
Materials:
-- 3 tablespoons vinegar
-- Drinking glass
-- 2 teaspoons baking soda
-- Rubber glove
Directions:
-- Pour the vinegar into the glass.
-- Add the baking soda to the inside of the glove. Hold the glove by its wrist and shake the powder into the fingers.
-- Carefully attach the glove to the top of the glass, so there's no gap.
-- Pull the glove upright by its fingertips and shake gently, allowing the baking soda to drop into the glass.
-- Stand back and watch as Frankenstein's hand begins to come alive.
Results: Baking soda is a chemical base, which reacts strongly with the acetic acid of vinegar. A by-product of this reaction is carbon dioxide, which increases the pressure and inflates the glove.
Source: The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science: 64 Daring Experiments for Young Scientists," by Sean Connolly
Bike Experiment
This simple experiment demonstrates the principle of angular momentum, and you may astound your friends while you do it.
Materials:
-- Two 4-foot lengths of string
-- Bicycle wheel (the front wheel of a small bicycle works best)
-- Broomstick
-- Two friends of the same height
-- Scissors
Directions:
-- Tie the ends of one piece of string together, so you have a closed circle of string. Tie the other piece in the same way. You should have two loops of string.
-- Loop both pieces of string onto the broomstick.
-- Have both of your friends lift the broomstick onto their shoulders. Your friends should be facing each other.
-- Pick the wheel up and place it in between the two loops of string. Attach the strings to each side of the axle, so that the wheel is suspended from the broomstick.
-- Start spinning the wheel as fast as you can. Remember, the wheel is being supported on its left and right sides by the string. Don't put your fingers too close to the spokes.
-- Ask your friends what will happen if you were to cut one of the strings while holding the wheel. Common sense says that the wheel will fall.
-- While the wheel is spinning, cut one of the strings.
-- Surprise! The wheel won't fall, but will continue to spin in place. It looks like it's hanging in the air, defying gravity.
Results: Angular momentum keeps the wheel suspended, but as it slows down, gravity will eventually overcome it.
Coin Dancing on Bottle Top
You can make a coin seem to tap dance on its own with this experiment.
Materials:
-- Measuring cup
-- Water
-- 2-liter bottle
-- Freezer
-- Coin
Directions:
-- First, pour 1/2 cup of water in the bottle, and place it in the freezer for an hour.
-- Next, remove the bottle and set it upright, with the cap removed. Set the coin on top of the bottle so it completely covers the opening.
-- In a few minutes, the coin will start vibrating and making a tapping sound.
Results: As the water in the bottle warms, water vapor in the bottle rises and pushes on the coin on the way out. After the vapor escapes, the coin rests on the bottle again. The cycle repeats, which causes the tap-dancing movement.
Source: "Sneaky Science Tricks," by Cy Tymony
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Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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