Weird, fun science

Jimmy Stroup

On a floor covered with the residue of experiments past, a dozen

eager scientists between the ages of 5 and 9 spent their mornings

making Tootsie rolls, sidewalk chalk, chromatographic shirts and even

slime.

Under careful supervision, of course.

Carl Johnson, a 21-year-old senior at UC Irvine, leads one of the

Radical Reactions classes offered through the Newport Beach

Recreation Services department. The classes aim to make learning the

fundamentals of science fun as well as educational.

“What we’re doing is teaching kids the basic reactions,” Johnson

said. “We’re learning simple chemistry.”

Over the weeklong course, children can be messy but with a

purpose.

“A lot of what we’re doing is fun and games. Some of it keeps them

safe, though, too,” Johnson said.

The safety lessons are interspersed throughout every experiment.

First and foremost, participants are warned if something is

dangerous. Though the harshest chemical used during the class is

rubbing alcohol, even that can be a concern. The greatest lesson for

children is how they learn to understand that while having fun they

also need to take things seriously, Johnson said.

The experiments are designed to interest children, combining the

elements of science with their penchant for getting mixed up in messy

projects.

The chromatographic shirt experiment teaches them how colors can

be separated if the proper chemical is introduced. Armed with

different-colored markers, campers began marking and drawing on

T-shirts. Once fully colored, rubbing alcohol was dripped onto the

markings with eyedroppers.

As if by magic, the colors on the shirts began to break down into

the base colors that compose them: Black markers spread into purple,

green into yellow, etc.

By showing children that science can be fun, it makes them more

interested in other sciences for the future, said Sabrina Kasbati,

another Radical Reactions instructor and biology student at UCI.

“I think it gives them an open mind to learning about science,”

she said, adding that most of her charges have already said they want

to be scientists when they grow up.

Keeping children motivated and interested in the projects for

three hours a day is difficult, Johnson said, but he maintains that

being positive and moving the kids in between projects helps ensure

they don’t get bored.

“To keep little kids focused on one thing is next to impossible,”

he said. “As soon as you’re negative at all, it stops being fun for

them.”

The next science course offered from the Newport Beach Recreation

Services department is “Record-Breaking Rocketry.” This class teaches

about space and how to get there. The weeklong course starts Aug. 16.

Information and registration can be found at

https:www.city.newport-beach.ca.us.