A day in the life of a scientist
Eighth grade students Morgan Delozier and Cassidee Reiterhad the opportunity to experiment with a huge liquid nitrogen tank
Just recently the seventh and eighth students at BAMS had the opportunity to see what it would be like to be real scientists.
First, the seventh graders experienced what it would feel like to be in a giant science lab when they hooked up with a Penn State employee and got to work with a microscope that costs a whopping $500,000!
I had the chance to interview Mr. Hescox about the activity:
What was the activity?
It was a remote session with a lab at Penn State using Nano technology.
What was the purpose of the activity?
We have been studying microscopes in science.
Did the students seem to enjoy and interact with the equipment?
Yes. Parents told me their children were talking about the activity at home. Doing activities like this provides students with career opportunities. I can see that some of them have the potential to become scientists.
What was your favorite part of the activity?
I like being able to allow kids to work with equipment that they may never be able to work with again.
When asked about this experience, seventh grader Bella Kies said, “I thought that it was cool that we got to run a $500,000 microscope by ourselves.”
Next, the eighth grade students got to participate in a demonstration with liquid nitrogen. They got to put everyday objects into this substance and observe the changes. They even got to eat marshmallows that were put in liquid nitrogen!
I also had the chance to interview Mr. Schreier about this activity:
What was the activity?
It was a demonstration with liquid nitrogen.
What was the purpose of the activity?
We have been studying states of matter in science class.
Did the students seem to enjoy and interact with the equipment?
They seemed to enjoy the change of everyday objects: marshmallows and a banana used as a hammer.
What was your favorite part of the activity?
The anticipation before the big ‘kaboom’.
Eighth grader Johanna Whiteford thought the activity was a neat one and stated, “It was a lot of fun when we got to eat marshmallows that were put in liquid nitrogen.”
Both grades had such a fun day and hope to have the opportunity to do these kinds of science activities again!
