Students in Shawna Russell’s Mini Mad Scientist elective class at Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Wadsworth get their hands dirty. In a recent experiment, they made Oobleck, a mixture of cornstarch and water, to learn about the states of matter — solids, liquids and gases.
“It’s fun,” says Russell, who worked with teacher Christine McMillan on the class. “They get excited about learning.”
Every Tuesday this quarter, 10 fourth to sixth graders meet for the class in a science lab to learn lessons and participate in many engaging science experiments and activities such as making huge bubbles and designing lab coats. The class is part of Sacred Heart’s enrichment program that creates joy by allowing students to pick one unique elective they’re interested in per quarter.
“When they come into the elective, they have a smile on their face,” Russell says.
Not only are the students learning about biology and other sciences in the Mini Mad Scientist class, but they are also improving their reading skills and learning how to follow directions and collaborate with partners and groups.
“They’re learning to communicate and use critical thinking in a group,” Russell says.
Previously, Mad Scientist was offered to seventh and eighth graders who did activities like performing dissections and using polymers to create magnets. While dissecting frogs, the students learned about anatomy and related the frogs’ organs to their own.
“They could easily identify the heart, lungs or stomach,” she says.“Some things you can pick out because of what we know about our bodies. ... Kids thought that was pretty cool.”
With it being a small class, there’s more time for labs and interaction, and that makes a difference in how they can connect what they learn with real life.
“[They’re] able to apply some of the science they learned, things they know about acids and bases, what they know about fossils, what they know about biology,” says Russell. “Being able to see those concepts in real-time is really great for them and having the opportunity to explore those hands-on.
