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ChemKidz
“Our first visits included Sand Springs Middle School. Robert Jackson, Darren DeNardis, and I attended. Also, in coordination with the OSU AIChE Student Chapter, we visited the Science Fair at the Omniplex in Oklahoma City. Those attending also included: Michael Levy, Ben Lawrence, Christy Peterson, and Dr. Randy Lewis.”
Aside from the demonstrations there are several other important aspects of the program including safety, contacting schools, enlisting volunteers, and obtaining sources of funding. All is run by volunteer students.
Gregg reminds us, “Safety is of primary importance. Many of the chemicals are caustic, flammable, highly reactive, or pose serious health hazards if used improperly.” Each individual involved in the program has adequate laboratory experience and understanding of the chemicals and procedures. They have attended multiple laboratory safety training seminars and experienced working in an industrial or academic laboratory setting. All experiments must be approved by a member of the faculty before being performed.
Dr. Rhinehart, ChE School Head, says, “Many
studies reveal that US students loose interest in
science and math in the intermediate grades and
subsequently fall behind students from other
nations in those skills. Additionally, K-12
education does not introduce students to
engineering - the application of technology to
solve multi-objective problems for humanity. This
exists at a time when the nation has an
insufficient supply of science and technologists
to meet our national needs; so, it is important
that we help K-12 educators to inspire students to
prepare for technical careers. I am both pleased
and impressed our student leadership and
effectiveness of the ChemKidz program.” Perhaps
the expressions on the school children pictured
here show that ChemKidz can generate the student
commitment to math and science that we need.
We received many thank you letters from students, and teachers often referred us to other teachers, so we were evidently making a positive impact, especially in the Stillwater area schools.
We have developed a manual of experiments to guide presentations. We have a pool of about ten ChE participants, of which about four participate in each presentation.
Gregg suggests that our development of ChemKidz could become a model for other schools and other disciplines. "The founders of ChemKidz were unaware of any national model that served the desired purpose. The program could be easily modified and used as a model for others to follow; all that is required are a few individuals that care about education and know basic science. The objective of the program is to incite an interest in science in elementary school students and also to introduce alternative methods penetrating the student-instructor interface. The individuals involved in the program, specifically in the execution of a presentation, should be passionate about teaching and able to convey information on to others. As long as the leaders of the program reflect these characteristics, ChemKidz could successfully be used as a model."
If you have any questions or comments please contact either Kelly Lane (ChemKidz Vice President and Director of Public Relations) at Kellyll@okstate.edu or myself.
ChemKidz President
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ChemKidz
seeks to teach children that learning science and
engineering is fun. The organization was founded
in 1999 "to spark interest in science in
elementary and middle school children by providing
hands-on experiments and demonstrations." We’ve
been visiting schools ever since with a team of
ChE students, and last year the ChemKidz put on
demonstrations at every elementary school in
Stillwater and participated in the I-Wonder Fair.
A class demonstration typically lasts one hour and
includes experiments using batteries and bulbs,
liquid nitrogen, and combustion. The shows are
interactive and challenge the students mentally to
solve the puzzles behind the apparent magic.
Our
volunteers are mainly junior and senior level
Chemical Engineering students who are adequately
prepared, committed to the profession, and who
respond to bribes of food and miniscule amounts of
extra credit.
Initial
supplies and funding for ChemKidz included the
Center for Science Literacy, the Department of
Chemistry, and the College of Engineering,
Architecture, and Technology (CEAT) Student
Council. Special thanks to Dr. Smith Holt and Dr.
John Gelder. Presently, our funding is through our
local AIChE student chapter and the CEAT Student
Council. We would like to have a budget of about
$5,000 per year to support the cost of chemicals
and other expendable materials, and are looking
toward corporate sponsorship and an NSF grant.
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