Science Club 2011

This year we had a great turn out for science club.
Our teacher this year was Adrienne Walker, she has impressive credentials and has previously taught science to high school students. Below are the science experiments we did during our five week science club meetings. Thanks everyone for making a science club a success! We hope everyone learned something and enjoyed the meetings.

Back to Science in the kitchen-- April 21st, 2011

For our last Science club meeting we decided it would be fun to do some more kitchen science. We had the students make ice cream. Some students make it with two zip lock bags and other students made ice cream with two cans (a small can and a large can). The students leaned that salt had to be added to the ice to help with the heat energy. To make ice cream, you must remove heat energy from the cream. That's why you use ice. Heat energy moves from places with more heat energy to places with less. So, heat energy flows from the cream to the ice, cooling the cream and melting the ice. Once the cream loses enough heat energy, it freezes and becomes a solid. Once the ice gains enough heat energy, it melts and becomes a liquid.
By the end each group had made a different flavor of ice cream that tasted much better then the store bought kind. The students also left the last science club meeting with frozen hands. :)

Digestive System -- April 7, 2011

During the fourth session of science club the students learned about the digestive system. Each student was given a cracker. They ate the cracker and were taught the process of digestion as they ate the cracker...Your tongue and check muscles push the cracker down your pharynx, which leads to your esophagus. The esophagus continues to the stomach where more chemical and mechanical digestion break down the cracker. The cracker is now ready to be absorbed into your blood stream. Muscles continue to push the cracker into your small intestine where digestion continues and the nutrients are absorbed into your blood stream. The small intestine leads into the large intestine where water, salts and minerals are absorbed. Next is the rectum where all the left over solid waste leaves the body.
They also learned that food stays in your stomach for 2-3 hours.

The students were then given a cracker to brake up into a cup then they added water and iodine, they were able to see the cracker brake down and turn to mush. The students also did an experiment with a cracker and coke.
The students were very captivated by the experiments, some students got a little queasy after thinking about the process....:0)

DNA -- March 31, 2011

For our third science club meeting the students learned about DNA! DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic acid, it is found in all living things. The students learned about genes and how genes are pieces of DNA passed from parent to child.
The students did an experiment with an onion, they added chemicals to the onion and through a series of steps they were able to see the DNA of the onion (stringy white substance).
The students also built their own DNA model out of marshmallows, licorice, and toothpicks. The students had a great time learning about DNA and also eating marshmallows! :-)

Generating Electricity with Wind - March 24, 2011

For our second science club meeting we taught the students about a form of alterative energy. We had the students creat a windmill. They had to go thru a trial and error process in getting the blades on the windmill to work properly. They had to decide as a group how many blades, the angle of the blades, and the design of the blades, etc. There was a lot of wind outside that day so the students had perfect condidtions to get their windmills to work properly. Through this process the students learned the most effective windmill model. The goal of the blade design is to reduce resistance and increase lift.
They learned that the generator inside of a wind turbine converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Science in the Kitchen - March 17, 2011

For our first Science club meeting this year we taught the students about science found in their own kitchens. We gave each student a small gas jar filled half full of whipping cream, we had the students shake the jar. The more they shook it the more the fat molecules broke down and began to stick together. After a few minutes of shaking the cream turned into butter. Some students had a 'yellowy' liquid left in their jar and other did not, we were able to discuss why this happened to some and not to others.
The kids had a great time making butter, we also taught the children about yeast and other household items that they could use to create their own experiments at home!