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Kids become Chemists for a Day
As part National Chemistry Week, Oct 18-23, 2004, elementary school students
from the Lafayette and West Lafayette community got an opportunity to
experience the life of a chemist. Nearly 1600 students from 13 area schools
participated in this year’s program. Throughout the week, over 100
student and staff from the Chemistry
Department at Purdue University helped students in almost 80 classrooms
perform experiments which illustrate how chemistry affects our daily lives.
The theme this year was “Health and Wellness.” Students in kindergarten through second grades did experiments with toothpaste to learn how fluoride helps to protect their teeth. They also learned more about proteins present in the human body, such as bone, muscle, and cartilage. Students in third through sixth grades performed experiments to help them to understand how the brain sends signals to the body and how plastics, such as bicycle helmets, help protect the brain.
The event was sponsored by the American Chemical Society and organized by Iota Sigma Pi, a national honor society for women in chemistry. The mission of this organization is to promote the advancement of women in the sciences, cultivate interest in science among children, and to encourage young women to remain interested in mathematics and science.
Archives: Alumni Profiles | Class Notes