Did you ever eat ice cream made with liquid nitrogen? Or gaze at the stars from inside a gigantic balloon? Or send a water bottle rocket into the night sky?
Students and their parents in Cane Ridge and Antioch area middle schools were invited to an evening of science fun at Cane Ridge High School last Tuesday evening. Over 400 participants chose to attend 6 of the more than 40 hands-on science activities during the two-hour event.
Sponsored by the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach in collaboration with Metro Nashville Public Schools, this event featured activities taught by science undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from four local universities.
"What makes this event so unique is the collaboration between four local universities: Tennessee State University, Fisk University, Austin Peay State University, and Vanderbilt University," said Jeannie Tuschl, a program coordinator at the Center for Science Outreach. "I am thrilled and honored to have the resources to bring an event of this caliber into Metro Nashville Public Schools."
Dr. Tiffany Farmer, a research fellow also at the Center for Science Outreach, was instrumental in recruiting scientists who readily volunteered to spend an evening in a classroom with middle school students. Dr. Farmer stated, "Scientists are anxious to share their knowledge and expertise with students and their families."
Family Science Night provides an opportunity for scientists to share their passion for science, promote careers in science, and infuse science research into the community. "We hope to inspire students to think about pursuing careers in science, technology or engineering," Dr. Farmer said. "Also, perhaps they will be encouraged to take more science classes in high school."
Metro Nashville Public School science teachers were invited to attend the event. They were treated to a wealth of ideas to take back to the classroom and inspired by the willingness of scientists to involve themselves in the education of middle schools students. Some teachers extended formal invitations to the scientists to personally visit their classrooms.
More than 80 scientists traded in their lab coats for the evening in lieu of a Family Science Night T-shirt designed by Rahma Abdlrahman, a seventh grader at Thurgood Marshall Middle School. The design was chosen from more than 100 submissions and featured a world bursting at the seams with nature.
Students received a "Safari Passport" as they arrived. Passports were stamped as they rotated through the activities. Trying to decide what to do and where to go first was difficult with so many interesting activities from which to choose. J.F. Kennedy Middle School seventh grader Samantha Powell headed directly to the ice cream station to find out how ice cream could be made with liquid nitrogen and how it would taste. When asked what she learned, Samantha referred to the magic sand which she identified as a hydrophobic. "I wasn’t fond of science until the Family Science Night, and now I love science," she said.
Dr. Barbara Ide, the principal at Thurgood Marshall Middle School, said that her students had a wonderful time and learned a lot about science. "One of the seventh graders was delighted to be able to look at his own cheek cells under a microscope," she said.
Dr. Jennifer Ellis, postdoctoral fellow in Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, and Dr. Ide made plans to implement an endangered sunflower garden at Marshall. "I was intrigued by her research. That someone could actually identify endangered flowers amazes me and then to pinpoint it to Tennessee is even more amazing. They grow up to 15 feet tall and I am sure these flowers would look great in our school garden."
The goal of the evening was to stimulate excitement and build interest in science among middle school children, while involving parents in the educational process. The event ultimately provided an opportunity for children and their parents to work together conducting simple, inquiry-based, age-appropriate, hands-on science activities; observe scientific demonstrations; and talk with scientists to find out more about the latest developments in science, math, and engineering in Nashville.
November 24th, 2008 by 
Virginia Shepherd 
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