Greater Houston Section |
Community Affairs Committee
2022 Chair: Tracey Simmons-Willis
STEM Zone Saturday University of Houston STEM Center
The STEM Zone Saturday virtual monthly program provides engagement in the sciences and engineering fields for 3rd–12th grade local, state, nation-wide and global students who interact with UH STEM Faculty, UH STEM Center Outreach Squad, undergraduates, industry partners, and like-minded peers. All registrants receive a STEM Kit that provides tangible materials used to explore during the program’s instruction which is led by UH Faculty, external industry partners, and UH STEM Center Outreach Squad members who are undergraduate and graduate students representing various STEM disciplines. For more information and registration links, visit the STEM Zone Saturday website. Adventures in Chemistry For Kids and Families, Grades K-5 Experiments – Heat: Energy on the Move Heating a substance makes its atoms and molecules move faster. See if you can tell that heat makes molecules move!
Secret Science of Stuff – Atoms How small is an atom, or a water molecule? So small that 600 billion trillion water molecules will fit in a tablespoon! Take a look to see how huge that number really is!
Experiment with two samples of apple slices. Put lemon juice on one but not the other. The one with no lemon juice turns brown. The one with lemon juice does not. Temperature and the Rate of a Chemical Reaction Design an experiment to see if the temperature affects how fast two solutions react. A Catalyst and the Rate of Reaction See how a catalyst can increase the rate of the breakdown decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, then use salt as a catalyst in a reaction between aluminum foil and a solution of copper II sulfate.
Access current and past issues
Contains articles, activities, and games. Available in English and Spanish. | Ask a Scientist Take a Tour- Argonne National Lab Tour
November 10th Virtual Tour Recording: Did you miss our tour of Argonne National Lab with Tour Guides Dave and Denise Hooper? Click here to access the recording! Public tour information – www.anl.gov/tour-the-lab
Request a tour – tours@anl.gov Education Division Contacts:
Jessica Burgess (jburgess@anl.gov) Education Outreach
Kelly Sturner (kmoran@anl.gov) Learning Lab Instructor Enjoy a Podcast Have you ever wanted to meet a scientist? What would you ask them? Want to know more? You can submit a question to askascientistpod@gmail.com. Alternately, you can visit the podcast website and click on links to listen to scientists on subjects like hydrogeology, soil, microbiology, neurobiology, and the Mars Rover. Explore with your kids: In 2019, Professor Robert Winston published a book with questions from children around the world. Professor Winston provides answers to their question in an illustrated book, Ask A Scientist. Teachers Corner From the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT), enjoy these activity write-ups for free during NCW and consider joining AACT for access to many more resources for chemistry teachers year-round. Elementary & Middle School (Ages 5-13) Lab: The Disappearing Color (K-8) Lab: Rocket Challenge (K-8) Demo: Simple Kinetics (K-12) Video: Catalytic Converters (Middle and High School) Simulation: Reaction Rates (Middle and High School) Activity: Investigating Reaction Rates (Middle and High School) High School (Ages 14-18) Demo: Simple Kinetics Video: Catalytic Converters Simulation: Reaction Rates Activity: Investigating Reaction Rates Demo: Milk of Magnesia Magic 2021 US National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) Webinar Series Are you a high school student looking to put your chemistry knowledge to the test, or a chemistry teacher seeking to inspire your students? All interested teachers, students, parents and volunteers can learn more by signing up for the USNCO webinars today! Introduction to USNCO for Students Friday, October 22nd 7:00 pm ET List of student webinars scheduled this year Let this short clip by Yitian Zhu, from our own Houston metropolitan area and gold medalist of the 2021 International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), inspire your students to participate: https://www.facebook.com/AmericanChemicalSociety/videos/536743050770836/ For more information, contact the Greater Houston USNCO coordinator, Dr. Jerry Yang, at acs.ghs.cho@gmail.com. |
Upcoming Community Affairs Events
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