{"id":479,"date":"2022-01-03T11:53:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T16:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/?page_id=479"},"modified":"2022-01-27T07:50:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T12:50:48","slug":"mayas-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/mayas-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Maya’s Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

My name is Maya Waldor.\u00a0 I am a sophomore at Colby College, and I am from Newton, Massachusetts.\u00a0 I am a chemistry major with a concentration in biochemistry.\u00a0 Throughout the January 2022 term at Colby, I have spent my time researching, testing, and prepping science experiments to help elementary through high school age students develop or deepen their interest in chemistry.\u00a0 I have always loved working with children, and I have some experience in teaching children as I have been a gymnastics coach for kids ages three to seven for the past several years.\u00a0 However, up until this chemistry outreach program, I have never had the privilege of teaching kids in an academic setting.\u00a0 I understand that the past couple years have been v\"\"<\/a>ery challenging for kids to experience hands-on science activities in schools due to the pandemic, which can lead to a lack of enthusiasm towards science.\u00a0 I created four experiments with the hopes of spreading my love of chemistry to a new group of students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My first activity, \u201cExtreme Weather,\u201d included three interactive demonstrations aimed at teaching students about volcanoes, tornados, and lightning.\u00a0 Next, students participated in two activities to further their understanding of the electricity involved in lightning.\u00a0 Students raced soda cans across the floor using electrically charged plastic rulers in order to discover how static electricity works.\u00a0 Using this new foundation of static electricity, students created static electricity robots.\u00a0 Students then practiced using different objects, their clothing, and their hair to reveal which could make their robots arms and legs dance through the principles of static electricity (Teacher Kit<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

My second activity, \u201cIons Conducting Electricity,\u201d focused on how free ions need to be present in a substance to conduct electricity.\u00a0 This activity included a demonstration using a light bulb conductivity tester, so students could determine which liquids they consume are capable of tur\"\"<\/a>ning on a light bulb. Next, students learned about the electrodes and electrolytes present in a battery by connecting a voltmeter to different fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 Students then participated in the static electricity robot activity described above in order to gain insight on the difference between conductors and insulators (Teacher Kit<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

My third activity, \u201cWater Properties,\u201d aimed at helping students learn about water\u2019s conductivity properties, water\u2019s polarity, and water\u2019s solubility properties.\u00a0 Students first observed a demonstration of how a clock can be turned on using tap water but not with deionized water in order to understand that there are metal ions in the tap water we drink \"\"<\/a>that are capable of conducting electricity.\u00a0 Next, students observed how tap water does not have enough free ions present to power a light bulb.\u00a0 Students then performed a skittle chromatography experiment to learn about the effects of using a polar solvent with polar skittle color dyes.\u00a0 Finally, students made edible water bubbles.\u00a0 This activity was aimed at teaching students about how one substance can dissolve in another as well as the properties of cell membranes.\u00a0 This activity also helped students to learn about possible more environmentally friendly plastic substitutes in order to protect our planet from global warming (Teacher Kit<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

My final activity, \u201cZoe\u2019s Zoo,\u201d was focused around teaching students about the nutrients present in our food and simple tests that can be performed in order to uncover these nutrients.\u00a0 Students first performed an iron test using magnets in breakfast cereal.\u00a0 Students then performed a carbohydrate test using 2% iodine and a fat test by streaking a series of possible fats.\u00a0 Finally, students performed a vitamin C test also using 2% iodine.\u00a0 The goal of this activity was to help bring food labels to life and help students understand what foods contain essential nutrients in our diets (Teacher Kit<\/a>, Worksheet<\/a>, Station Instructions<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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My name is Maya Waldor.\u00a0 I am a sophomore at Colby College, and I am from Newton, Massachusetts.\u00a0 I am a chemistry major with a concentration in biochemistry.\u00a0 Throughout the January 2022 term at Colby, I have spent my time … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7111,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/479\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ch151\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}