"Science Mom" Courtney Corda appeared live on View from the Bay today to demonstrate the way enzymes and proteins interact when you mix various fruits with gelatin. For Courtney, the kitchen is the perfect place for parents to get hands-on with kids about science and can be a wonderful way to explore chemistry and to relate scientific principles to everyday activities.
Courtney was live as resident "Science Mom" on ABC's "View from the Bay" last week. Tune in as she talks about science literacy, the basics of earthquakes, tectonic plates, P-waves, and the importance of putting real-world science into concrete and hands-on form in front of (and with) your students and kids.
Her on-air demonstration of the "shake table" created as part of the Set Your Table for a Sweet and Sticky Earthquake Shake science fair project idea (Science Buddies' difficulty level: 4) shows how easy it can be to set up a project that can demonstrate a number of variables and scientific principles. Using household items like sugar cubes, marbles, peanut butter, a puzzle box lid, cornstarch, and Play-Doh, Courtney explains how the project can be used to highlight the fact that while what a house is made of is important, you also have to evaluate what a house is built upon.
There is plenty of room for students to formulate questions and hypotheses as they predict the outcome of an earthquake on various kinds of simulated soil. They can also expand the project to look at differences in architectural design and building materials.
If you try this project in your class, let us know how it goes!
(Courtney also appeared on "View from the Bay" in June. Did you miss it? Catch up here as she demonstrates acids and bases with "Cabbage Chemistry.")
In her appearance on The View from the Bay, Science Buddies Vice President, Courtney Corda, talks about the value of making science an everyday subject and topic of family discussion. Courtney encourages parents to approach science first and foremost by linking science and underlying scientific principles to an area of interest for their students and to engage students with hands-on activities and scientific projects.
Courtney reminds viewers that fostering a love of science is important. Supporting a love of reading or instilling and modeling healthy eating habits are vital concerns for parents, says Courtney. So, too, is science education.
Watch the video clip for practical tips on bringing science into the home and see Courtney, her son, and another mother-daughter team put cabbage to work as a pH indicator.
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