Deer Creek fifth-graders go mad for a day about science
BY JESSE OLIVAREZ
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Published: November 3, 2009
The day before Halloween came and went, Clayton Howze arrived at school wearing a costume that few at Deer Creek’s Grove Valley Elementary would be hard pressed to figure out.
Sporting spiked-purple hair, black-rimmed glasses and a white lab coat,
Clayton tried to make it evident that he was a mad scientist.
He was not alone. On Friday, all 54 fifth-graders at Grove Valley Elementary took part in Mad Scientist Day, a day devoted to fun and science.
Clayton, 10, said he liked dressing up.
During the course of the day, each of the students had to stand before their peers and conduct a science experiment of some sort. One student had a classmate stand inside a trash bag and then using a vacuum, sucked out the air to demonstrate the effects of air pressure. Others did experiments using information they found online.
Maya Jackson, 10, put vinegar and baking soda of varying amounts into glass bottles to demonstrate the reaction between the two substances.
In the end, the experiment didn’t work, but like any good scientist, Maya had an idea of what went wrong.
"I put in too much vinegar,” she said. "I’ll use less next time.”
Mad Scientist Day was started at Deer Creek Elementary by
Meredith Mustain, who is now a fifth-grade teacher at Grove Valley, to teach students about the scientific method.
The day was very popular with students over the years, said
Kathy Webb, who also is a fifth-grade teacher at Grove Valley.
Taking part in Mad Scientist Day was a right-of-passage for fifth-graders at Deer Creek Elementary, Webb said. When Grove Valley opened in August, only the students who used to attend Deer Creek knew that the day would be coming up.
Webb said seeing the older kids dressed up and having fun has made the younger students at the school begin thinking about what they’ll do when they get to become mad scientists themselves.
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