A Fun Way To Teach Chemistry

Summary: Calvin College professors use a visually appealing and entertaining program to help elementary kids become more familiar with chemistry.

Hundreds of fifth grade students from Grand Rapids will watch chemistry professors walk right past them with three foot flames rising from ignited methane-filled soap bubbles in the palms of their hands. It's an exciting way of teaching chemistry and just one thing students will experience at the 21st annual Calvin College Chemical Demonstrations Program.

The program, which has demonstrations each day beginning Tuesday, May 19 through Friday, May 22 in Calvin's Gezon Auditorium is designed to introduce young kids to science and particularly chemistry. The program is highly visual and entertaining, but also educational, as explanations for all the reactions are given.

Calvin College chemistry professor Larry Louters started the program when his daughter who was in fifth grade at the time asked him, 'what is an atom?' Now 21 years later, Louters continues to get through to young kids, by explaining these mysteries to them using an interactive and visually stimulating approach.

"I am a firm believer that language is learned by repeated exposure," he says. "Therefore, the more time kids can hear and interact with science, the more comfortable they will be with science as they become high school students and adults."

The programs run just over an hour and are free to students. Louters says this is just a teaser to the science camps that Calvin offers over the summer. For more information on those camps, go to: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/chemistry/camps/

Here are a list of times for the chemical demonstrations which will be held in Calvin's Gezon Auditorium:

Tuesday, May 19 - 1:00 to 2:15 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20 - 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., 1:00 to 2:15 p.m.
Thursday, May 21 - 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., 1:00 to 2:15 p.m.
Friday, May 22 - 9:30 to 10:45 a.m.

For more information, contact Larry Louters at 616-526-6493

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Received on Fri May 15 16:26:18 2009