Mad scientists: Northeast High School students find chemistry with kindergarteners
Published 4:30 pm Wednesday, October 2, 2019
- Paula Merritt / The Meridian StarNortheast Lauderdale Elementary students Bella Hacker and Joshua Jasper watch as their pumpkin experiment oozes. Northeast Lauderdale High School students were helping teach the elementary students about science.
Kindergarten students at a local elementary school experienced a pumpkin with green foam coming out of its mouth Wednesday while learning about science.
AP Physics students from Northeast Lauderdale High School taught kindergarten students at Northeast Lauderdale Elementary School some science skills they’ve learned such as how decomposition works and chemical reactions as part of Mad Scientist Day.
Younger students were shown how to put yeast in a graduated cylinder and a pumpkin with hydrogen peroxide, so they could see bubbles foam from it. The students also had a chance to create slime and take the temperature of the water.
The idea of having a Mad Scientist Day started after two teachers met at a football game. Northeast Elementary kindergarten teacher Mary Jones and Northeast High School AP chemistry and physics teacher Candice Maloney thought that it would be a good way for students to interact with each other. Jones said she saw online videos and thought that it would be cool to do the same thing in her classroom.
Jones said hands-on activities like the science experiment will keep the students engaged. The activity has allowed students to learn about more subjects in one activity, for example, learning how to count and how to take measurements, she said.
“Any time you get with kids and keep them engaged, actively involved in learning they are going to remember it,” Jones said.
Maloney said she hopes her high school students will help the younger students become interested in science and maybe choose a career in science.
High school senior Daneel Konnar, 17, said that his teacher, Candice Maloney, thought it would be a good idea to teach younger students what they learn in his AP chemistry class but making it more interactive. Konnar, whose favorite subject is science, said the experience might make students interested at a young age as he did.
“When you are introduced to something so unique at a young age, you may start to get integrated into it at an older age,” Konnar said.
“The most exciting thing is seeing kids with happy smiles on their faces,” he said.
