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Launchpad for literacy Educator introduces children to science with hands on experiments
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 19, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A strange display set up at Somba K'e Civic Plaza early on Tuesday evening as crowds eager to buy homegrown goods from the Farmer's Market milled about on the opposite side of the lawn.
Cayman Andrews, 4, builds his own rocket with help from Dave Buchanan from the NWT Literary Society, at Somba K'e Civic Plaza on Tuesday night. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo
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The table was full of the kinds of everyday ingredients one would normally find in a common kitchen. However, the collection of eggs, raisins, soda, cooking fat, baking soda and vinegar on exhibit was never destined to end up in someone's pantry.
"We're building rockets," said David Buchanan from the NWT Literary Council, pointing to a cordoned-off area with a small plywood launchpad in the middle.
Buchanan was at Somba K'e with the council's bookmobile, which the council brings to public events to hand out free books.
"We've been doing a couple of the garden parties trying to give the kids a couple of activities they can do to enhance literacy," said Buchanan. "Not only literacy in the traditional sense of reading book but also following directions, doing arts and getting your hands messy."
On Tuesday, Buchanan set up a table featuring several simple experiments to demonstrate scientific literacy. This included a "blubber glove," made of a couple of Ziploc bags and some cooking fat, which children could wear while putting their hands in a bucket of ice water, to learn about the principles of insulation. There was also an experiment where an egg was placed into both fresh and salt water, which demonstrated how the change in density when salt was added to the water, allowed the egg to float.
The most popular experiment of the day, however, was the baking soda rocket.
In order to build the rocket, an empty water bottle is outfitted with three pencils that are taped facing downwards towards the nozzle, to help it balance. The bottle is then filled with a third of the way with vinegar, while a spoonful of baking soda is wrapped in tissue paper.
"The tissue paper gives you a bit of a timer," said Buchanan. "Without that it's going to go off before you can even get the cork in."
When the baking soda is dropped inside the vinegar, a cork is added and the bottle place upside down with a cork in it.
The experiment operates on the same principle as the quintessential science fair experiment – the volcano. Because vinegar is acid, and baking soda is alkaline, they create a chemical reaction when they come into contact.
"The chemical reaction creates a byproduct – CO2 – which builds pressure, and shoots the rocket off," Buchanan explained to about half-a-dozen children.
Throughout the evening, several groups of would-be scientists were given the chance to build their own rockets, which Buchanan would then fire off. The children watched patiently as the paper dissolved, eventually shooting the bottle about 12 metres into the sky, amid cheers and a frothy cloud of baking soda and vinegar.
Christopher Ketchum, 6, who got back from science camp last week, was excited about being able to take part in some more science experiments on Tuesday night.
When asked what he learned from the rocket experiment, Ketchum drew a quick conclusion.
"We learned that baking soda can make things explode," he said.
Christopher's older brother, Alex, 7, who was also at science camp, was a little more philosophical about the rocket launch.
"There's amazing things that science can do," he said. "Last week, I learned that electricity can go through a conductor, but not an insulator."
The boys' mother, Kirsty Ketchum, a geo-chemist, said she thinks impromptu experiments such as this are a good way to inspire younger children to become interested in science.
"It's good to give kids practical hands on experience like this. I don't think they get to do this kind of stuff in school," said Kirsty. "It's nice to have a range of things the like the blubber and the egg in the water. It's not just the wow factor. The rocket gets them over here and then they can learn about other things."
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