Science experiments become road to summer fun

Take two and a half cups of flour, a cup of water and a cup of salt, and what do you get? A volcano, of course; just ask any of the kids in the Summer Science Excursion, which ends this week.

On Tuesday, the K-5 students were busily molding their volcanoes in preparation for watching them blow. After the volcano was formed out of the dough, baking soda, a few drops of red food coloring, some liquid dishwashing liquid and vinegar were placed in the hole. Then it was time to “stand back.”

Creating the volcanoes and watching them erupt was just one part of the learning. Students researched volcanoes and the acid base reaction they were staging. They also looked at the various types of volcanoes: cinder cone, composite, shield and lava dome.

Utilizing the scientific method during the course, students learned to pose a question, gather information, make a hypothesis or educated guess and then perform an experiment while collecting data and observing it, while following lab safety rules. The end result or conclusion proved their hypothesis to be correct or incorrect.

Grant-funded, the June free Summer Science Excursion, including lunch, was presented by the Native American Education Program and its parent liaison June Shull. Students, assisted by two high school interns, met at Maricopa Wells Middle School every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. until noon to conduct one or two science experiments each session, a total of about 15 projects.

One, called Wake up your Taste Buds, involved a tasting session with closed eyes, trying to identify bacon bits, lemon juice, coconut, butterscotch chips and even green olives.

“We had 24 students sign up, and, with vacations, we averaged 12-18 each session,” said Shull. Since several students had summer birthdays, the group celebrated them while learning to graph, using the birthdays of all the excursion students.

Although she was pretty well covered with volcano dough, Alitzel Chaires, 8, thought it was “the most fun of all.”

Peter Fabrick, 6, said he liked all the projects, but really liked Blubber Balls. His sister, Lauren, 10, who was celebrating her birthday by making a volcano, described the summer science program. “All the projects were really fun, especially the quicksand, and Mrs. Shull did a great job of teaching us and taking care of us.”

“Yep,” nodded brother Peter.

Photo by Joyce Hollis