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PATRICIA J. SMITH United States Air Academy High Schwl United States Air Academy. CO 80840
Chemistry in the Kindergarten Classroom Richard Steiner University of Utah, Salt Lake City. UT 841 12
I recently was invited to give a series of four chemistry lessons t o a kindergarten class. The many exciting visual demonstrations t h a t are possible using chemistrymake ours a natural subject to captivate the attention of young children. flames. However.. hevond . the excitement of colors.. exolosions. . etc., what should we hope toaccomplish in terms ot learning with an audience of five-vear-olds? l'hereare different 1)hilosophical approaches to science education ( I ) , and I trikd to incorporate some ideas from several of these in developing presentations which would convey some concept of the atom, an idea of bonding, the knowledge that two large classes of matter are acids and bases and that these react together and can be distinguished from one another, some of the properties of gases, and some exposure to solution chemistry. Though there is a t least one school of thought that considers these concepts to be beyond the reach of this age level (Z),I think all the students came away excited by chemistry and retained some of the important words and ideas involved in chemical processes. This was prohably because my approach was to involve the children in the learning process and to adapt explanations to their level of awareness ( 3 , 4 , 5 ) . ThlS feature is designed to encourage our readers to become involved in same way with imducing chemistry to chibehen. M m s , techniques, atxi ideas that have proven successful will be featured. We wish to chell%nw Ume of vw who have waked with chemlstrvandkidsm share your program wnh tne rest of the readers We lunher challenge more who have not made lhe first step to dse these programs to develop a System whlch w ii work tw you and the klas in yo., communrry Responses of the children to the activities would be of particular interest.
Atoms
The idea of the atom and bonding was introduced by means of a story1 about a curious little girl and her friend who visit "atom land." Atom land is a special place where the inhabitants are atoms. By observing the bodies of the creatures and watchmg them at play, the little girl in the story discovers the secret of atoms. The story format was effective for the children because they are used to having stories read t o them and children's stories often give inanimate objects (as well as animals) human characteristics. The use of children's-style literature to introduce new ideas has been previously discussed (6, 7).
The story was followed by "building molecules" in the classroom with the children acting as atoms, tennis balls substituting for electrons and 16-02. paper cups serving as orbitals (though this word was never used) capable of holding two electrons. The cup was either held by one atom (Ms. Chlorine held out the cup so Mr. Sodium could lend her an electron) or was held jointly by two atoms by means of strings coming from the cup. (I ambitiously "synthesized" glucose to accommodate all the kids in the class.) I also had two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom "floating" around and then when the rest of the class gave a loud clap the atoms came together and appropriately distributed their tennis balls. Allowing children t o use their well-developed motor skills to promote their interest is a techniaue oreviouslv advocated bv Cannon and Padilla (8).This a&ivi'ty was fillowed by exploding a balloon containing hydrogen and oxygen so that the students
' Available from and wrinen by ihe author.
Volume 61 Number 11 November 1984
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could we the real reaction their play mimirked. Throuyh~mt all this "atomic manipulation" I wore my safety goggles, enplaining that, whenever a chemist works with atoms, safety glasses must he worn. When asked at the end of the our program (eight days after it started), "What is everything made of?", the class responded in unison "Atoms!" The next ouestion was. "And how do atoms combine to make new things?"The reiponse was that electrons (the kids knew this word) are shared or lent. In my opinion, this is as far as I could hope the five-year-olds would carrv these ideas and is a worthwhile stenping .. .stone to future exposure to chemistry and chemicals. Acids and Bases Another of the successes was the acid-base lesson. The children were given vials and asked to bring in a liquid the following day. I t was stressed that the children should enlist the aid of their parents in choosing a liauid to avoid their handling anything dangerous. In clas;, I dibtrihuted pH paper and evervone tested his or her sample. Of course, no attempt was made to explain pH; all testing &as done only by matching colors. The large majority of samples were either fruit juices (all acidic) or household cleansers (all basic). This circumstance allowed for some generalization. The hypothesis develoned was tested with additional samnles. These kindergartkners were absolutely delighted to b e able to "guess" correctly the color the juice or cleanser would produce with the indicator. Without any specific discussion they learned t o apply previously collected data (their earlier color ohservations) to new situations (9,101. The color changes of indicator with acids and hases was reinforced by two demonstrations: hlowing carbon dioxide into universal indicator plus hase and the "Menorah experiment." As this program was conducted between Chanuka and Christmas. reference was made to both holidavs using demonstrations. In a new experiment developed 1.0; thisciass the eight "Chanukacandles" were test tubesset UP with dit'trrent buffer and the "Shamus" (the special candle on the Chanuka menorah used to light the others) was a graduated cylinder with universal indicator. T o "light" the candles the indicator was poured into the test tubes giving a nice color dis~ l a vThe . idea that acids and hases react was demonstrated by 610wing up a balloon with the released COa as vinegar and sodium bicarbonate react (11) and by blowing smoke rings from ammonia and hydrochloric acid (12). All the children wanted more pH paper to take home to test other liquids. As pointed out by a reviewer, the children must he given strict instructions to use only liquids their parents give them. The following day a visitor to the classroom saw the indicator solution and remarked that it was a pretty color. One little girl nonchalantly said, "Oh, that's just a hase and indicator." I believe this shows that the general concept of different classes of chemicals was retained.
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Journal of Chemical Education
Molecules and Gases By hlowing up balloons with air, hydrogen, helium, and sulfur hexafluoride. we successfullv demonstrated that eases have different prop&ties. The rising and falling of the bdoons showed that gases have different densities. The burning of the hydrogen halloon compared to just popping the helium balloon showed that gases behave differently chemicallv. The "kids as molecules" approach wasagain usedio demonstrate solubility. (Before this demonstration only one child knew what "dissolve" meant.) Mr. Sodium and Ms. Chlorine were reunited for this experiment and about 10 children served as water molecules. The water molecules formed two rings hy joining hands and then one ring "solvated" the sohim into the center so he could no longer asdium hv- nulline . soriatr with the chlorine (who was being treated similarly by thr other wawr ring). The ideas of disiolvinr nrre reinforrrd by showing immiscible and miscible liquids, causing precipitation to occur, and by dissolving salt in water followed by evaporation of the water and recovery of the salt. To Advance Our Science Overall I think the exposure to chemistry was extremely educational for these children. Their enthusiasm was so high ~ r o-m a mwere that I eot calls from Darents asking if an ongoing -. possih~e.I am satisfikd that it is appropriate to expose children a t this early age to scientific ideas. One must he careful to concentrate on hroad areas, introducing general ideas and terminology, and not to get involved with detailed explanations. I learned that talk should be minimized and student involvement and demonstrations maximized. Of course, many educators have advocated this for some time at all levels of teaching (13,14), but i t was not until I was placed in a situation where that was the onlv wav to maintain interest that the wisdom of the method was fully appreciated. Overall, everyone (mvself. . " , the kinderearten teacher. the kinderearten nunib and even my college &dents) benefited from visks.'~uch a visitation program on a hroad basis would, in my opinion, he a great help in advancing chemical education a t all levels. Literature Cited
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(1983). (I) Commission on Human Resources of the National Research Council. "The State of Schml Science. A Review of Teachine of Msthematies. Seienee and Soelal Students in American hprovements,..rep~intedin"What are the Needs in Pmcollege Science, Mathematicr and Social Science Education?
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(11) "Chomintry Brainteasen," American Chemical Society. Washington. DC, 1982. (12) Alyea, Hubert N., Dutton, and Fredrie B., (Editors). ''Tested Demonstrations in Chemintry."Journal of Chemical Education, Easton. PA, 1965. 59.614 119781. (13) Hsrlen. W. SchoolSeimceR~ui~m, (14) Ksrplaa,R.,etsl."ScieneeTeaehingsnd the Development ofRcasaning," University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 1978.
