Members of Maryville’s chemistry department are sharing their passion for science through a growing outreach program for elementary and middle school students.
Members of Maryville’s chemistry department are sharing their passion for science through a growing outreach program for elementary and middle school students.
“Today, we’re going to talk about matter,” says William Ridley, a retired research biochemist. His unabashed enthusiasm registers with the 41 second-graders at Stanton Elementary School filing into the room, finding seats on the floor.
All eyes are on Ridley and his two assistants: Maryville students Caleb Holaway and Morgan Bertolino, both second-year biochemistry majors. Their first task is to help the children don their safety glasses as Ridley continues. “Matter is anything that fills space and has weight. Is there any matter in this room?” he asks. Little hands shoot up and answers fly around the room. “Me! The chair! Your cup of coffee! The desk!”
Ridley uses water to explain matter’s three states: solid, liquid and gas. His audience follows along, mesmerized. “To go from one state of matter to another, you change the energy,” Ridley says. “Now, how do I change a solid ice cube into liquid water?” More answers fly around the room. “You warm it up! Boil it! Heat it!” “Great. We call this adding energy. Heat is a form of energy,” Ridley says, smiling as broadly as the children who know the answers.
Holaway and Bertolino move over to a large desk where hot plates heat a few inches of water in soda cans to a gentle boil. “Make sure your safety glasses are on properly,” Ridley tells the children. “We want you to become accustomed to doing things safely.” The children recognize the warning as a hint something cool is about to happen. Using metal tongs and oven mitts, Bertolino quickly flips one of the cans upside down as she simultaneously shoves it into a vat of cold water. The can collapses with a loud bang. Spontaneous applause from the seven-year-olds.
Adding energy and taking away energy. Vaporization, condensation and sublimation. How do hand warmers work? How do you measure the air in a balloon? Making a slime called Gluep out of water, borax and glue and learning about polymers. One experiment right after another. Ridley and his assistants work hard to make chemistry fun for these second-graders.
In recent years, education in the United States has placed greater focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects. As the global marketplace becomes more competitive, schools are preparing their graduates to land the jobs of tomorrow, which will require highly skilled, technologically advanced workers. Studies indicate too few U.S. high school students achieve at high levels in math and science and pursue STEM degrees or careers. Education policymakers at national and state levels are introducing science education at much younger ages and developing programs to motivate female students and students across socioeconomic levels.
Such an initiative requires cooperation at multiple levels, the kind that has drawn educational partners. Today’s program, entitled “Chemistry is pHun,” is hosted by the St. Louis Section of the American Chemical Society (STLACS) in partnership with Maryville University. Ridley is volunteer coordinator for the program. Anuradha Vummenthala, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry at Maryville University, contacted STLACS last year for help reaching out to the larger St. Louis community about the importance of STEM education in their schools. Vummenthala is passionate about providing STEM education to underserved children. The STLACS introduced her to Ridley.
“He invited me to attend one of his ‘Chemistry is pHun’ presentations, and I loved it,” she said. “Ridley talked about how important it is to introduce science at the elementary school level, not in high school. And he suggested that if he had some Maryville students to assist him, the children could see themselves as scientists. I couldn’t have agreed more.”
By September 2018, two of Vummenthala’s students, Marilyn Vazquez and Fujr Ibrahim, ventured out with Ridley to elementary schools in the Rockwood and Kirkwood School Districts. Holaway and Bertolino took on the spring semester. Vummenthala has enlisted Maryville colleagues to help take the partnership to the next level, meeting with Turan Mullins, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion, and Steve Coxon, PhD, executive director of Maryville’s Center for Access and Achievement.
“Our discussions focus on getting involved in community programs that motivate elementary school students, especially girls and students of color, to study science,” Vummenthala said. “But there is no reason it can’t involve middle and high school students as well. We just started, but we have big plans.”
Vummenthala was recognized for her efforts to raise awareness about the exciting career opportunities in science for all students. She received a Maryville University Academic Spotlight Award earlier this year. The Spotlight Award is given monthly and includes a monetary gift to celebrate Maryville faculty who are innovative inside and outside the classroom. Vummenthala is also excited about building partnerships with organizations like STLACS. The members of STLACS, like Ridley, who spent more than 30 years as a research chemist at Monsanto, play a critical role in these partnerships. The volunteers provide classroom presentations, attend career days and offer internships and special events that enhance a school district’s curriculum, making STEM learning more meaningful and relevant for students.
How relevant? “At the end of a recent demonstration, I turned around and there was Bertolino sitting on the floor surrounded by a group of second-grade girls all excitedly talking about science,” Ridley said. “The younger girls saw themselves in that college student — that they could be like her one day. It’s an experience that will stick with them for years to come.”
And the program has been eye-opening for Maryville’s biochemistry students, too. Neither Holaway or Bertolino imagined working in a room full of second-graders, but are glad they said yes to Vummenthala’s extracurricular project. “It really helps when people are excited about what you’re doing, even when they are little,” Bertolino said. Her eyes light up when she talks about a future that includes working for NASA in the field of astrobiology, studying the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.
Holaway, who plans on earning his doctorate in biochemistry research and teaching at the college level, admits to being “very passionate” about science. “This has been an enriching experience for me,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed watching the kids’ jaws drop at the experiments. And I have learned a lot through teaching. I now quote Albert Einstein: ‘If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.’”