Science Saturdays give a taste of rocket science

That was how physical and life sciences associate professor Dr. Ann Buchmann described the series of classes Chadron State College is offering for third through sixth graders this fall, a few minutes before welcoming more than 30 young students to the second installment of the hands-on learning experience on Saturday, Oct. 17.

Funded through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), CSC’s Science Saturdays program is aimed at getting young learners interested in becoming scientists, according to Dr. Mike Leite, another of the five faculty members involved in the project.

“(NASA’s) fate depends on having good students who understand science and math,” Leite said. “If we don’t have enough good scientists, we aren’t going to have a space program.”

CSC is also using the program to give future grade school teachers experience in teaching math and science, something that often is neglected because of the perception that the subjects are too difficult, said Leite.

“Kids in grade school are not encouraged to experiment and explore and do the kind of things to figure out how the world works, so their creativity ends up being squashed,” he said. “They aren’t encouraged by their teachers.” 

The excited grade schoolers who assembled for Saturday’s class on making rocket fuel didn’t need much encouragement, though, and some apparently had prior knowledge of the chemistry of explosive mixtures, including Diet Coke and Mentos.

Those items, along with vinegar, baking soda and orange pop, were among the ingredients carefully tested by the students, with oversight from faculty members and several CSC students, as they worked to find out what combinations would best create a gas-producing reaction. After deciding what to test, and measuring the results, the teams of students constructed ‘rockets’ using plastic bottles as fuel tanks and sheets of heavy-weight paper for the nose and tail fins, then took the creations outside to see how they would fly.

Faculty members adapt educational materials supplied by NASA in designing the classes, said Buchmann, a microbiologist by training who admitted that rocketry was a bit out of her field.

“I’ve been in contact with people in the chemistry department to help with this. We talk with one another to figure out what we are doing,” she said.

CSC students majoring in science and education are also involved in the classes, and have devoted a lot of time, said Buchmann.

“They have been excited to do this,” she said. “It’s good experience for them.”

The reaction from the young students participating in the program, and their parents, has been also positive, she added.

“The students were very excited,” Buchmann said. “I hear from the parents that they really enjoyed it.”

The noisy enthusiasm in the lab as the experiments got underway shows that science can be enjoyable, Leite said.

“You can hear the people just having fun, but they are thinking about mixing different proportions of chemicals and getting different results and how this applies to rockets,” he said.

And the experiments teach students about more than just rocketry, said Buchmann.

“It’s science that everybody should know a little about,” she said. “It’s not so far out there that you can’t figure it out.”

Science Saturdays continues with programs from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 24, Nov. 14, Nov. 21, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12. Classes are in Room 144 of the Math and Science building. Sessions are limited to 35 students each. For information or to register, contact Buchmann at abuchmann@csc.edu.