Call to Action: Experiments with Notre Dame elementry

I had a really great experience with the Notre Dame eighth graders from the elementary school. The science in action class was nice enough to include me with their activities for Call to Action. The eighth grader from the elementary school, came to the science labs to participate with us in conducting four different experiments. The experiment I conduct with them was the flame test. The kids stuck a cooper rod into six different compounds and then stuck the rod into a flame. When they stuck the rod into the flame it would cause the flame to change a different color. Before they conducted the experiment they made a prediction what color each of the compounds would produce based off of their observation. After they did the flame test we had them compare their predictions to the actual results. The purpose of doing this was to have them get familiar with the scientific method. It was really great seeing how excited these students were to do the experiments, as well as their eagerness to ask more questions. One of the questions that got the professor excite to do was “if we mix these two solutions will they make another color” due to this question it got everyone wondering so we took time to see if it was true. It was not true the flame had two different colors. From the experience I feel like we showed the eighth grader that learning can be exciting and it does not always pertain to learning straight out of the book. That learning can be really fun. The frustrating part about the whole experience was the students were asking us questions before revealing the correct results so it was hard explaining to them in a way that would not give up the correct answer. Then again we encourage them that it’s okay to get another answer because in science there is no correct answer everything is based off of your experience and your methods. It was fun talking to the students and seeing their excitement because they never get to do these types of experiments in elementary school. I also think today we also encourage them to continue their education and go to college to experience new things and have the opportunity to do things in their interest that can be exciting to them. Overall it is a good feeling to give back to the community, especially seeing how excited the students were made me excited and make the experience that much better. It good to give these types of opportunity to kids that don’t get the chance to do these experiences. I believe that they will remember this experience for a long time. If I was given an opportunity to do experiments when I was younger I would remember it to and encourage me more into what field of education to follow. Today I took a lot out of today not only did the students learn from us we learn from them too.