It's not unusual for senior classes to experiment and try out studying in THM 's laboratories and workshops. The Biotechnology/Biopharmaceutical Technology programme at the Department of Life Science Engineering (LSE) has now, for the first time, inspired a fourth-grade class to engage in practical science.
Wide eyes, whispering "ooohs!" and boisterous cries of joy – physics and chemistry are excellent ways to inspire young people about the world of science. With this goal in mind, Prof. Dr. Denise Salzig and Dr. Christiane Elseberg from Department of LSE at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) have devised a morning programme aimed at elementary school students from third grade upwards. They successfully tested the programme with a fourth-grade class at the Brothers Grimm School in Giessen .
The school class visited the MINT Space on the Giessen THMcampus, which is operated jointly with the Giessen -Vogelsberg Media Center. "But it can just as easily be offered in THMlabs," said Elseberg – or directly in schools. The experiments don't rely on special chemicals, but rather on household products, combined with real laboratory equipment such as test tubes, pipettes, and measuring cylinders. The household products make the experiments easy to replicate, even without a chemistry lab. "We want the children to literally 'take something away with them,'" she said – and so they provided workbooks with experiment cards that the children could replicate.
After a brief safety briefing, the students experienced four experiments. They had names like "Mud Volcano" and "Fantastic Arch." The children had drawn the "Miracle Flower" on paper, cut it out, and folded it – in water, the flower unfolded to its full splendor. The young researchers playfully worked out the physics behind it as a team effort.
"We want to introduce students to scientific work in a fun and accessible way: formulating a question, gathering materials, conducting the experiment, and documenting the results," explained Salzig. After four experiments of their own, and the highlight—a lava lamp made of water, food coloring, sunflower oil, and an effervescent tablet—they received a certificate: the fourth-graders can now call themselves "Junior Researchers."