The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

Chemistry students teach fourth-graders

Van Wert City Schools information

Earlier this month, 102 chemistry students from Van Wert High School presented a science educational outreach program to approximately 150 Van Wert Elementary students in the Niswonger Performing Arts Center lobby. This was the culminating event to the high school students’ project, “Show Us What You’re Made Of.” The title was chosen because the unit dealt with the properties of matter, which is what makes up all things.

VWHS chemistry students teach fourth-graders during a recent STEM project in the lobby of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. (VWCS photo)
VWHS chemistry students teach fourth-graders during a recent STEM project in the lobby of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. (VWCS photo)

The chemistry classes began the unit by working with Science Central, a science museum based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to learn what it takes to make interesting and informative science presentations to children. The class partnered with Science Central, due to its reputation for quality science programming and its outreach program to area schools to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education.

Each class had a session with the Science Central staff on creating discrepant events in which something unexpected occurred. The unexpected caused the students to question what happened, get excited, and want to learn more. The projects stressed that this is how scientific discoveries are made; by asking questions and then answering those questions by following the scientific method.

The chemistry students then spent weeks learning all of the material for the matter chapter through literacy tasks, hands-on activities, and direct instruction. Students were each responsible to take this information and design a booth on an assigned topic. Each booth had to include a display board, a demonstration or activity for the younger students, and a take home item for the students that further explained the topics that were to be taught.

Topics included: physical and chemical changes, density, temperature, states of matter, mixtures vs. compounds, and the law of conservation of matter.

On the day of the event, all of the fourth grade classes traveled to the NPAC and were divided into groups of 4-6 students and then cycled through the six booths that were manned by high school students in 7-8 minute increments.  Kids took home mini-density columns, glow sticks, treats, color-changing pencils, bookmarks, and stickers to remind them of what they learned.

The high school students really enjoyed stepping out of the box to work with the younger students and felt that by teaching the topics, they gained a better understanding of the information, too.

POSTED: 10/24/14 at 6:23 am. FILED UNDER: News