SciYouth
Our Mission
To promote the love of science in our community as science teaches us about ourselves and the world we live in. It explains how and why things work - from how our own body works to how a car moves.
According to the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), “In many schools and districts, however, elementary science instruction often takes a backseat to math and reading and receives little time in a school day.” We hope to fill in this gap here for elementary and middle schoolers.
What We Do
1. In-person classes in the community with hands-on experimentation experience
2. Network for like-minded students looking to promote science experimentation in their community
In-Person Classes (Temporarily Paused)
We run biweekly classes throughout the school year at partner sites. Each session is about 1.5 hours long which gives students ample time to fully understand the objectives of the experiment and the concepts that they would be exploring through hands-on experimentation.
Our mentors start each class by walking the students through the various sections of our lesson plan and answer any questions students may have on the experiment. Students will then perform the experiment independently or in groups, with the mentors guiding them on the side. Each lesson plan is equipped with discussion questions that encourage students to delve deeper into the topic. Our mentors will then engage in a lively discussion with the students to check for understanding and to provide more information to interested students.
A Network for Science
We are a network for like-minded high schoolers to exchange ideas and lesson plans to promote science experimentation. Our resources can help
High schoolers who are interested in teaching science or demonstrating experiments to middle and elementary schoolers.
Middle schoolers who are interested in running a STEM Club in their school to explore science experimentation among their peers.
Sample Experiments
SciYouth - Naked Eggs.pdfNaked Eggs
In this experiment, students explore what happens in a chemical reaction between calcium carbonate (eggshell) and acetic acid (vinegar).
At the end of the experiment, students will understand that in a chemical reaction, the atoms in the starting materials (reactants) rearrange to form new products with different properties but the Conservation of Mass (no loss in mass) is always observed - the fundamental principle of a chemical reaction. A brief introduction to the osmosis process is included too.
This experiment also aligned with 5th Grade's NGSS Physical Science Objective PS1.B Chemical Reactions.
SciYouth - Potato Battery.pdfPotato Battery
Students explore the fundamentals of how an electrochemical battery works through constructing one using potatoes.
At the end of the experiment, students will learn that an electrochemical battery converts chemical energy to electric energy by means of spontaneous electron transfer. This transfer is facilitated by the potato which contains phosphoric acid acting as an electrolyte for the two metals, allowing the electrons to flow from copper to zinc creating small electric currents. The experiment is expanded to include the concepts of parallel and series circuits as well as the reduction and oxidation processes.
The experiment aligns with Middle School Physical Science Objective MS-PS.1-6 Energy and Matter.
SciYouth - Chalk.pdfHomemade Chalk
In the experiment, students learn to make chalks from everyday materials such as eggshells and flour instead of buying commercial chalk.
This experiment is a good example of a Green Chemistry experiment whereby all chemicals/materials used such as the eggshell, flour, food colorings are natural and safe. A brief introduction of Green Chemistry is included and students are encouraged to come up with and design their own experiments that do not use commercial chemicals and generate little to no waste.
SciYouth - Oobleck.pdfOobleck - Solid or Liquid
This experiment examines the properties of matter in order to determine if the oobleck is a solid or liquid.
The three most familiar forms of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. Each of these forms has its distinct properties. For most matters, it is easy to classify them into one of the three forms. However, there are some substances that display properties of two forms of matter. An example is oobleck, which is a non-Newtonian fluid that has properties of both solid and liquid. Students are further challenged to identify other substances that exhibit the same properties as oobleck.
This experiment is aligned with 2nd Grade NGSS Physical Science Objective PS1 Matter and its Interactions.
SciYouth - Fruit DNA.pdfFruit DNA
In the experiment, students learn to extract DNA from common fruits such as strawberries and bananas.
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid and it is the carrier of genetic information that is passed down from your parents to you. DNA determines the color of your hair, eyes, your height, and even how your lungs work. Each piece of information is carried in different sections of the DNA called genes. DNA is found in all living things including fruit like strawberries, bananas, or kiwi. It is located in the nucleus of a plant or animal cell. The purpose of each step taken in the extraction process is explained in detail to ensure that students understand the reason for performing those steps. A brief introduction of ploidy in different organisms is included.
This experiment aligns with Middle School Life Science Objective MS-LS1-2 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes.
Need more experiments?
These experiments are a small sample of the experiments in our science bank. If you need more experiments, please email us at sciyouth@gmail.com to join our network and gain access to our science bank to continue exploring the world of science experimentation.