Chemical Reaction

For the high school students, a day in a Utah State University chem lab offered a glimpse of learning opportunities that await them at the university level. For members of the USU Chemistry Club, the gathering offered a valuable lesson in peer mentoring.

 

Undergraduates from the club conducted a workshop for tenth graders from InTech Collegiate High School, one of Utah’s six early college charter high schools. InTech students make regular visits to USU’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Department to experience hands-on experimentation in a university lab. Located on the university’s Innovation Campus, InTech first opened its doors to students in 2006.

 

Decked out in safety goggles and gloves, the teens learned what happens when you mix and heat a few ordinary-looking liquids and solids.

 

“Oh, that’s disgusting!” exclaimed one participant as students watched a “carbon snake” – a gray mass formed from an organic compound mixed with sulfuric acid – slowly bulge from a beaker.

 

“The snake is a graphite form of carbon,” USU undergrad chemist Sara Huefner explained to the group. “It’s one of the known ‘allotropes’ of carbon. Do you know what an allotrope is?”

 

“Isn’t it, like, when you have the same chemicals but in a different form?” ventured one student.

 

“You are so correct!” answered Huefner. “Can anyone give me an example of another allotrope of carbon? I’ll give you a hint – what’s something really expensive you wear on your hand?”

 

“Diamonds!” the students chimed in unison.

 

At another station, students stretched long, sticky strands of dissolving Styrofoam, in an experiment demonstrating what happens to polystyrene molecules when mixed with a solvent.

 

“It looks like a promo from a Spider-Man movie,” quipped USU Chemistry and Biochemistry Department Head Steve Scheiner.

 

At yet another station, teens burst into giggles over white foam spewing from a flask.

 

“You like to blow things up, I see,” said Lisa Berreau, associate professor and associate dean of USU’s College of Science. “OK, that doesn’t surprise me.”

 

 

 

“It’s very interesting to see the different reactions from the kids,” said James Ewell, a junior biochemistry major who helped with the workshop. “Some don’t care; some are fascinated.”

 

“It lets the kids see that chemistry can be applied to everyday things,” added Matthew Volk, a sophomore biochem major who also helped with the workshop. “Examples of chemistry are all around us.”

 

A veteran of four peer mentoring gatherings plus three demonstrations for Aggie Family Day, Volk is an old hand at engaging youngsters in learning activities. Huefner still has some doubts.  

 

“I have trouble keeping everyone on task,” she lamented.

 

Maintaining focus and order among active teens, the mentors agreed, is a formidable challenge. But a worthwhile endeavor, faculty advisor Berreau, assured the undergrads.

 

“Inviting teens to campus is a key step in the recruitment process,” she said. “We need to reach these kids early to spark their interest in science and let them know about the many opportunities that are available to them.”

 

Berreau and other faculty members in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry tested the waters this past summer with a week-long chemistry workshop for students from InTech. Innovation funds awarded from the college’s budget drawback will cover the cost of this year’s inaugural gathering. The goal is to expand the opportunity to students from other Utah high schools in coming years, she said.

 

The summer gathering garnered an enthusiastic response from the participants and their parents.

 

“Many teens simply don’t know about all the learning and scholarship opportunities that USU offers,” said Berreau. “Perhaps they haven’t even considered that college is an option they can pursue. Our outreach programs, bolstered by our undergrad peer mentors, are an effort to change that.”