First Day of the WOW Program!

Today was the first day of a new program I joined; The Wonders of Our World Program (or WOW for short). The WOW program is designed to teach elementary students in local Columbus schools the value of science through fun interactive experiments and inspire them to consider pursuing STEM fields in the future. The experiments are led Ohio State students majoring in STEM fields. Today our activity was designed to teach the steps of the scientific method through the building and testing of clay boats. Each group was given an identical amount of clay and marbles, both of which sink in water. Students were tasked determine the best way to make the clay float and then to make it hold more marbles than their classmates. Our group won! Even I was amazed as the students managed to make the small amount of clay float with 14 marbles! It was interesting to see the students in the third grade class develop over the class period, they were shy and distracted at first, but as they experimented (and as they learned they were winning the contest), they became excited and involved in the lesson. It was interesting to watch them work as a team to solve the problem. I was hesitant to join the program at first, I was worried about the challenges of working with young students. But I’m very glad I did, it was an amazing experience and I look forward to the next session!

 

Here is our winning boat! It began taking on water as the 15th marble was added.

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