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Dr. John Hartman does chemistry experiments with Bryant's fifth grade classes on Thursday at Helena College.
“He’s got super powers!”
A fifth grade student from Bryant Elementary exclaimed this when Dr. John Hartman did one of his chemistry experiments on Thursday.
“I’m hoping to plant that seed, get them excited about (science) so hopefully later on, we can turn them into real scientists in the future,” said Hartman.
Hartman is the chemistry professor at Helena College, where he’s been teaching for 14 years. For the past two years, Helena College has adopted the two fifth grade classes of Bryant Elementary School as honorary Helena College students. Once a month, the fifth graders head to campus to experience different departments.
“The partnership between Helena College and Bryant Elementary aims to give students a look at what college can be like. By walking across the street once a month they become comfortable spending time on a college campus and more aware of the options they have after high school: college can be fun, accessible, and a way to further explore your interests,” wrote Helena College in a press release. “Students leave Bryant to attend middle school after fifth grade, and this program helps them gain confidence as they are transitioning to a new school and beginning to figure out where their interests lie.”
This month's featured department is chemistry, and Hartman and his lab assistant, Hannah Lenik, put on quite a show.
“The students are always really good and sweet,” said Lenik. “They give me a break from my own schoolwork, and it’s fun to have them here.”
Fifth grader Cameran Pease gets help on her Cartesian diver from lab assistant Hannah Lenik on Thursday at Helena College.
Hartman started class with a parody song of Frozen’s “Let It Go” called “Chemists Know,” which got quite a few laughs and warmed the class up.
Many of his experiments focused on pressure, density and chemical transformations.
He melted Styrofoam in acetone, created a perfume bottle effect by blowing through two perpendicular straws set in a cup of water, froze water solid and did a liquid density experiment with blue lamp oil, milk, and red dyed corn syrup.
Students guessed the liquid density experiment would make a light purple color because of the red, white and blue. However, there were “Oh’s” and “Aw’s” when the liquids all stayed separate in the container.
No experiment created more awestruck fifth graders than the Cartesian diver that demonstrated the principle of buoyancy.
Hartman grabbed a large bottle filled with water that had a small eyedropper inside. First, he made it appear like he was moving the dropper down with a pencil or pen dragged against the outside of the bottle. However, he then asked for a student's help, and the class watched in amazement as the student's finger from five feet away lowered the eyedropper inside the bottle Hartman was holding.
“Chemistry scares me,” joked fifth grader Timberlee Fiscus. “How did (Hartman) do that?”
Fifth grader Timberlee Fiscus finishes up her Cartesian diver Thursday at Helena College.
Students took guesses as to how the experiment worked. One guessed magnets and another guessed static. Eventually the students pieced together that the common action was Hartman holding the bottle, hence he must be squeezing it.
The diver eyedropper had just enough water and air inside to be positively buoyant. When Hartman squeezed the bottle, it put pressure on the air inside the bottle, which then led to the water putting pressure on the air bubble inside the eyedropper, pushing it downward.
Each student set about making their own Cartesian divers to bring home.
“I’m gonna use this to trick my parents,” said fifth grader Lilly Pfeuffer.
Students also got a chemistry booklet with at-home experiments and Helena College T-shirts to take home with them.
“I want (the students) to have an excitement for all the sciences around them,” said Hartman. “It only takes a spark to start a fire, so if we can get that spark going for the sciences, the more science they know, the better informed they are as world citizens in life. Far too many people don't understand chemistry and the sciences around them, and they’re making very uninformed decisions about how we should treat the environment, our home and each other.”
In November, the Bryant fifth graders will head to Helena College’s airport campus to learn about aviation, machining, automotive, welding, diesel, fire and emergency services and to visit all the trades programs and their faculty.
Megan Michelotti can be reached at megan.michelotti@helenair.com.
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Dr. John Hartman does chemistry experiments with Bryant's fifth grade classes on Thursday at Helena College.
Fifth grader Cameran Pease gets help on her Cartesian diver from lab assistant Hannah Lenik on Thursday at Helena College.
Fifth grader Timberlee Fiscus finishes up her Cartesian diver Thursday at Helena College.
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