As teachers, my wife and I constantly find ourselves surrounded by kids…even in our own neighborhood. In fact, the neighborhood kids often drop by our home just to visit. Recently, a group rang our doorbell as I was beginning to
play with some science. In fact, I was preparing to replicate a science demonstration that is sweeping the nation; namely, the Mentos geyser. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the Mentos Geyser, this is how it works. You will need a box of Mentos (the mint flavored kind) and a two-liter bottle of soda. First, remove the cap from the soda. Next, remove six Mentos from the box (you can experiment with the number of Mentos). Now, here is the tricky part. Drop in the six Mentos into the open bottle of soda and stand back!
I am not sure who first discovered this little science demonstration, but it has become a nationwide phenomenon. Everybody is experimenting with the Mentos Geyser. Here are a few interesting links about the demonstration
As you can see, the Mentos Geyser truly is a phenomenon! Consequently, I was a bit surprised when the kids told me they had never heard of it. Of course, that meant that I had to make a run to my local grocery story to pick up a couple of boxes of Mentos and about 10 two-liter bottles of diet cola (people have found that diet cola works best). I bought enough for the kids to do the demonstration a couple of times (you can’t do something like this just once). After some brief instructions, I set up each child with a two-liter bottle and a set of Mentos. On the count of three, they all drop their Mentos into the cola and jumped back with excitement (I didn’t tell them what was going to happen, so they were a bit surprised).
Here is the thing that I took away from this experience. After we launched a couple more geysers, the kids came running to me asking, “When are we going to do another experiment?! Can we do one next weekend?!” For me, it reinforced the idea that kids not only like science, they love to do science. Unfortunately, they don’t often get the opportunity to actually do science in school. This is particularly true in elementary school where science is being squeezed out of the classroom by reading, writing, and arithmetic. This is especially true in schools that serve poor children, children of color, and immigrant children.
My little experiment with the neighborhood kids is proof that children are excited by science. Instead of shutting the door on this content, I encourage teachers and parents to use science as a launch pad for developing interest and aptitude in other areas such as mathematics and reading. Integrating science and other content areas would also give children the opportunity to understand the relevance of what they are learning. Perhaps if we embraced science as a valuable part of a child’s day, our children would embrace school as an exciting and valuable part of their lives.
