LSU’s ChemDemo—One of the Nation’s Leading Science Education Outreach Program
In its eight-year history, LSU’s ChemDemo program has become the nation’s largest service-learning science outreach program in the nation. The program has brought a powerful hands-on science education mission to a number of classes, sending more than 4,400 LSU students to more than 2,100 Louisiana schools, where they offer demonstrations to more than 50,000 students in grades K-12.
How it works
The ChemDemo program was launched in 1997, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of National Chemistry Week. Prior to the creation of the program, George Stanley, the Cyril & Tutta Vetter Louisiana Fund Alumni Professor of Chemistry at LSU, helped coordinate local industry professionals and fellow faculty members to visit area schools and perform chemistry experiments. But early on, it was clear that the demand for presentations far exceeded the number of available presenters.
“We were getting over a 100 requests for visits, and we were only to fill maybe 10 of them,” he said, so he decided to enlist his general chemistry students to help.
Each semester, Stanley offered a bonus homework assignment, which usually involved writing an essay on various chemical topics. That year, he decided to send his students in to the schools during National Chemistry Week. They were expected to involve K-12 students in an experiment to make a polyvinyl acetate polymer – a Silly Putty-like substance that can be made with glue, Borax, and water.
The department provided students with instructions and some of the materials for the classes, while the LSU students practiced the demonstration and delivered an explanation of the chemistry, as it was appropriate for the class that they were visiting. In addition, the students were asked to write an essay about their “teaching” experiences.
“We filled every request that year,” Stanley said, adding that the vast majority of students raved about the program and the service-learning teaching experience in their essays.
Since then, Stanley and some of his fellow faculty from the Department of Chemistry have sent hundreds of LSU students into the community each fall and spring semester, as well as during the summer term. In addition to tracking the students’ responses through the reflection essay assignment, Stanley and his colleagues ask local teachers to evaluate the LSU students’ presentations.
“Almost all of the students – I’d say about 99 percent of the students – receive the highest score possible from the teachers,” Stanley said.
There are eight ChemDemo presentations that can be adapted to students in K–12 classrooms. Topics covered include the atmosphere; polymers; acids and bases; energy; light reactions; kinetics, equilibrium, and catalysis; and material science. One demonstration even results in a tasty treat: ice cream prepared with liquid nitrogen (-321° F) in only five minutes.
For each demonstration, the department recommends that two students visit one classroom, but some classes have been visited by as few as one student or as many as six. The students provide some of the supplies, such as glue, bowls, paper towels, water, and small containers – while the department and individual faculty research grants from the National Science Foundation help provide more specialized tools and chemicals.
Why it works
For most people, the typical chemistry class either introduced them to an exciting world of discovery and revelation or left them struggling to focus on dry, textbook concepts that seemingly had little application to daily life.
Stanley has long documented students’ reasons for liking or disliking chemistry. His findings show that a lot of it comes down to one key component: enthusiasm.
Among the numerous binders lining the walls of his office, one contains the results of Professor Stanley’s first general chemistry homework assignment. He asks students to describe their experiences with chemistry and chemistry classes. Almost without fail, students who expressed an interest in the subject attribute it to a passionate teacher, and those who view chemistry with distaste explain that their past teachers were less than excited about science or didn’t make the connections between chemistry concepts and real life.
“Now, I don’t do this [assignment] to point out good or bad teachers,” said Stanley. “But this proves you can make a huge difference as a teacher when you’re really enthusiastic about your topic.”
The unfortunate fact is, however, that not all science teachers are passionate about the topic. Through no fault of their own, some teachers’ strengths lie in other disciplines, and that’s where ChemDemo can help.
“I’ve been in situations where teachers tell me ‘I hate science,’” said second-year PhD student Catherine Thomas. “A good teacher can teach anything, but when a teacher is really excited about the topic, it makes such a difference.”
Thomas sites Stanley as an example of what a little enthusiasm can do.
“Dr. Stanley is by far one of the best teachers I’ve had, and that’s because he’s so excited about chemistry,” Thomas said.
Even after a brief encounter with Stanley, it is clear that he is enthusiastic about chemistry, teaching, and his research. The ChemDemo program has allowed him and his colleagues to connect students of all ages throughout Louisiana to enthusiastic chemistry teachers, who also happen to be LSU students.
The Benefits
Patrick Kolniak, a chemistry instructor at LSU, has been participating in the program for about six years, and noted the program’s multiple benefits to LSU students, local educators, and area students.
For the LSU students delivering the presentations, Kolniak said ChemDemos offer “the unique experience of speaking before a large group, help in determining career decisions, and an opportunity to test their own understanding of a specific topic.”
“I’ve seen my students go back to their high schools to deliver a presentation,” he added, “and a couple of years later one of the students who attended that presentation takes my course and goes back to the high school again. It’s a cycle.”
Kolniak, who teaches sections of Chemistry 1201 and 1202, said he has seen his students take both sections of his course in part for the opportunity to conduct another ChemDemo.
“[ChemDemos] are a chance for science to be presented to students in a different way,” said Dixie Gautreaux, who participated in a ChemDemo with Thomas at Harold Keller Elementary School in New Orleans last fall. “It also offers the teachers new ideas for their classes, and the kids can have fun while learning. The look of amazement on their faces was the best thing. It was fun answering their questions and seeing them excited about science.”
Both Thomas and Gautreaux, who is also in the Department of Chemistry’s graduate program, admitted that they are uncertain about their final career plans, but their involvement with ChemDemo has opened their eyes to possible careers in education.
“I never thought I had what it takes to be a teacher,” Thomas said. “But seeing their reaction, well, I haven’t ruled out teaching.”
“I’m still undecided on a career in either industry or education,” Gautreaux added. “This experience has made me realize that I do love teaching. It has given me something to think about for the future.”
Serving The Greater Population
In spring 2005, Stanley was named a 2005 TIAA-CREF Service-Learning Fellow and received a $5,000 grant. As part of the Fellowship, Stanley is working with Sophie Warny of LSU’s College of Basic Sciences Office of Multidisciplinary Research to create a University-wide database where service-learning opportunities and requests can be posted and tracked.
“This database can be used by students, faculty, and local partners,” Stanley said. “All you have to do is log in and make a request for service-learning program, and we can track it.”
The electronic communication will also relieve students, faculty, and outside agencies from the time required to complete the paperwork involved in submitting teacher/school information and assessments of the students’ performance. This can be quite a bit of work for larger classes. Stanley hopes that the database and Web interface system can be encourage more faculty to participate in service-learning by making it a lot easier to manage the activities.
“We’ll be able to identify how many students we’ve sent to certain schools, and we can even use the database to see if service-learning programs affected a school’s performance,” he said.
The database will not be limited to ChemDemo. Any service-learning program, whether it involves the Department of English or the Baton Rouge Food Bank, will be listed.
Contact Teresa Devlin |
LSU Office of Public Affairs
Spring 2006
