CF Special Report
Calvary Day School is known for its academics and it’s no wonder. While many students are enjoying their summer break, sixteen students from Kindergarten to 4th Grade, came back to the school to participate in Calvary’s week long science camp this year.
Students learned the importance of why scientists perform experiments and eagerly donned their safety equipment to start a week full of fun. “The goal for this camp was to have students learn to love science and to show them how fun and interesting science can be,” said 28-year veteran Calvary teacher, June Maddox.
The students worked hard, learning through various experiments such as the Vitamin C Experiment, and the ever popular Coke/Mentos Experiment, as well as re-creating a coral reef out of cake and replicating an archeological dig from hard and soft chocolate chip cookies, she explained.
“Many people have seen the Coke/Mentos experiment, but don’t understand the chemical reaction of how it happens,” said Maddox. “So, I teach the students that for the reaction to work, you need the carbon dioxide gas (an invisible gas) from the soda to make contact with the candy, which has thousands of tiny pits all over its surface so that bubbles can form. Once the Mentos hit the soda, bubbles form and the gas releases. This experiment never gets old and it’s always fun to see their faces when the eruption takes place.”
The students also performed an experiment with a Vitamin C tablet, Starch, and Iodine where they painted one hand with iodine which turned their hand red. They then sprayed it with a starch mixture and the chemical reaction of the starch and iodine turned their hand black. But the coolest part of this experiment, was when they finally took a Vitamin C tablet and moved it back and forth over the hand that turned black, and watched the ascorbic acid from the tablet erase the marks while the tablet kept its original color,” exclaimed Maddox.
“This was totally cool,” said rising 3rd grader Cole Nelson. Rising 4th grader Christopher Taylor loved the Cookie Experiment. “I hadn’t ever thought that a chocolate chip cookie could resemble the earth, but through this experiment, I learned how archeologists try to protect the earth when they excavate. It was easier to get the chocolate chips out of the hard cookie rather than the soft cookie. But, the best part was that we also got to eat our experiment, and chocolate chip cookies are my favorite,” smiled Christopher.
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