Explore * Invent * Imagine

When students begin a Life Science unit in school, they may be exposed to facts about cells; what they are, what is inside of them, how they reproduce, and the two basic types – animal and plant. What they most often do not receive is enough first-hand experience viewing living, working cells to relate what they have studied with what they have seen and know to be true. The students’ environment is full of such cells, which can readily be seen and examined, with the light microscope. This workshop introduces our students to the design and use of the light microscope, and demonstrates cellular biology staining techniques. 

Students discover the idea of density as a mathematical concept. Students determine the mass and volume of 2 density specimens, and graph the results. The data is not random, but shows a clear linear pattern with a slope characteristic of the material used. The slope is called the density of the substance. The samples will also be used for testing students’ measuring abilities, and as samples of industrially important materials.

Students experiment with a technique called chromatography, which will allow you to visually demonstrate that the pigment in leaves is a combination of several different colored pigments. This technique is useful in that it can separate and identify the various components of mixtures, such as those contained in plant pigments .

Students simulate bioremediation of marine oil spills using microbes that consume oil. These microbes have specialized metabolic pathways that enable them to use oil as food while converting it into nontoxic byproducts. In a controlled experiment, students work in pairs to apply a suspension of oil-degrading microbes to a small amount of oil and chemical indicator in a culture tube. A change in indicator color signifies breakdown of the oil. Students also perform the experiment without indicator and over time observe visible changes in the appearance of the oil. 

When some substances dissolve, they combine with a fixed amount of water. When these substances crystallize from water solutions, they retain enough water molecules to satisfy the bonding requirements of the crystal. This quantity of water is called a “hydrate”. If such a crystal is heated, the water of hydration can be driven off. In this experiment, students drive this water off in order to determine the percentage of it in the hydrate. This experiment is an example of “quantitative analysis” — an experimental procedure whereby the percentage by mass of one substance in another is determined.

What keeps you in your seat on a giant loop-de-loop roller coaster? Surprisingly, it is not the seat belt but the seat!  Does it work because of centripetal or centrifugal force?   What force keeps a satellite in orbit and you in your bicycle seat during a turn. How does it work? Students investigate the force surrounding orbital motion using balloons, hex nuts, bicycle tires, buckets and strings.