October 7, 2009

4-H Sparks Science video

Daniel Felder’s afterschool 4-H group at Johnson Elementary School in Kansas City usually works with robots, but recently they took a break to learn about biofuels and participate in the National 4-H Science Experiment.

“The kids had the opportunity of learning how to create different types of energy sources through fermentation,” said Felder, a University of Missouri Extension 4-H youth program associate.

The students developed a hypothesis, or prediction, about what was going to happen during the experiment. Then, they worked in groups to test their theories. Three of the four groups combined water and yeast with sugar, corn syrup, or wheat bran in a clear plastic bottle. The last group had no additives.

“We only added yeast and the yeast, it destroys the sugar in stuff, the sweets,” said Sha’Maria Gay. “It had nothing to destroy.”

Gay’s group was the negative control. The balloon they placed over the mouth of their bottle stayed deflated as others filled with carbon dioxide from the reaction. Students recorded the growth of their balloons and other observations, such as the creation of ethanol as a byproduct.

“The idea was to get different stations to have different results because it’s not only about the experiment, but it’s the collection of data,” said Felder. The students will graph their data and present it to the group.

The National 4-H Science Experiment is part of the 4-H Science, Engineering and Technology initiative, a campaign to encourage a new generation of young people attain science and technology skills that are increasingly in high demand.

Four other 4-H Afterschool sites in the Kansas City area completed the experiment.

“We see ourselves as partners with the schools,” said Bill Pabst, MU Extension 4-H state youth specialist who helped lead a similar experiment on the MU campus in Columbia. “There’s not enough time in the classroom to learn all there is to know about science, so we have to take every opportunity to have kids thinking about science and doing science in a fun way outside of the classroom.”

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The 4-H Afterschool program in Kansas City is a partnership between the Hickman Mills School District, Local Investment Commission (LINC) and MU Extension 4-H.