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Professor Sheryl Tucker helps Carly Potts of Girl Scout
Troop 37 with a viscosity analysis performed on the sticky
residue found on an unsigned letter. Nearly 200 girls became
crime scene investigators on Nov. 5 at Tucker's Magic of
Chemistry workshop. Joseph Turner photo
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Program
Promotes Youth
Interest in Science
Editor's Note: Sheryl Tucker, a chemistry
professor at Mizzou and founder of the Magic of Chemistry program, is a recipient
of a 2005 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering
Mentoring. Tucker was among 10 individuals and one institution to receive a $10,000
grant.
Seven years ago, Tucker launched a two-year pilot program
in partnership with the Girl Scouts Heart of Missouri Council
to provide young girls with an opportunity to perform simple chemistry
experiments in an all-girl venue. Since its inception, the Magic
of Chemistry has evolved from a lab with 35 participants to a
bi-annual, nationally recognized chemistry program that has served
1,900 girls from across Missouri. Tucker hopes to nationalize
the program and plans to use $5,000 of her grant to send Magic
of Chemistry start-up kits to chemistry faculty at other institutions.
By
Rachel Mahan
It would have been an ordinary family reunion
— everyone playing football and eating potato salad on a
beautiful November 5th day — until someone discovered an
intriguing letter with no signature. Did rich Aunt Io Dine forget
to sign it? Could it have been Aunt Ruth Enium or backward Uncle
Ben Zene? Maybe even crazy Uncle Al D. Hyde? Equipped with a handful
of clues, lab notebooks, and a curiosity for chemistry, nearly
200 mid-Missouri Girl Scouts in grades 4 through 6 were on the
case one Saturday morning at the MU Magic of Chemistry Workshop:
Case of the Unsigned Letter.
MU undergraduate Brad Young discusses the results of one
of the experiments with a group of Girl Scouts. They performed
several lab experiments to solve clues and find out who
wrote an unsigned letter. Tucker hopes the program will
ignite and retain girls' interest in science. Joseph
Turner photo
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At the program introduction by Sheryl Tucker,
associate professor of chemistry
and program founder, the girls were jittery with excitement, swinging
their legs under oversized desks designed for college students.
The letter promised a special gift and the relatives all looked
suspect, especially Uncle Ben Zene who wore overalls and a dilapidated
straw hat. Tucker good-naturedly paused as Uncle Ben searched
for his lost glasses at the front of the auditorium, and the girls
all giggled.
One
by one, the Girl Scouts would examine the clues left behind by relatives via inquiry-based
learning. They would discover who wrote the note and hopefully a passion for science
along the way. To help them was a small army of volunteers from both the Girl
Scouts and the University of Missouri-Columbia. Hosts led groups of about 20 girls
from lab to lab, scientists helped with experiments, lab directors introduced
the concepts, and various people worked behind the scenes to keep the program
running smoothly.
“The program is designed to ignite
and retain girls' interest in science at an age when national studies indicate
they begin to lose this curiosity,” Tucker said. Clue
#1: Mysterious white powder found beside the unsigned letter As
the girls entered the first chemistry lab, it was with eyes wide in wonderment
at the equipment and computers. They approached the lab benches cautiously as
if they weren't sure what to touch, but as soon as their safety glasses were on
and their lab notebooks were out, they enthusiastically began heaping different
powder samples onto the appropriate spaces on their palates. A drop of iodine
to each sample revealed its chemical make-up.
“They're
all the same!” was the conclusion as each powder that contained starch turned
a dark purple. “I think this one's powdered sugar,” confided one of
the budding chemists, stirring her samples. All suspects were still at large after
the first lab. Clue #2: Muddy footprint found
in the same room as the letter
The girls eagerly
flooded into the next chemistry lab to analyze soil samples from the mystery footprint.
They again dripped liquid onto their samples, but this time, they witnessed chemistry
even more dramatic. A chorus of “whoa's” rang out as the Girl Scouts
watched the soil bubble and fizz. Good news for Aunt
Iodine, who was decked out in a poofy pink skirt and heels: a sample from her
dainty shoes didn't contain baking soda (like the mystery footprint) which bubbles
carbon dioxide when mixed with vinegar. Clue
#3: The ink of the letter
When asked at the
next lab, one of the girls claimed Uncle Al did it. Why? “He has a lot of
pens, and he's creepy.” Samples taken from Uncle Al's pens and from the other
relatives allowed the girls a hands-on lesson in chromatography. They monitored
the separation of the colors in black ink and determined that Aunt Ruth Enium,
once a likely, forgetful suspect, couldn't have written the letter promising the
special gift. Her ink didn't climb up the paper like the ink from the letter. Clue
#4: DNA from the licked envelope flap A woman
scientist-in-action, Michelle Beckwidth of PTC
Laboratories, provided a real-world look at how to solve crimes by walking
the girls through DNA profiling. They read a gel on which DNA fragments of different
lengths moved at different speeds. By reading where the fragments ended up, the
girls found that, because the relatives were so closely related, they could only
eliminate Aunt Ruth again. One last clue to go. Clue
#5: Sticky goo smeared on the letter
Using a baking soda and vinegar reaction, Rachel Crouse
of Troop 53 determines if there is a match between the soil
samples taken from various suspects and the dirty shoeprint
found near the unsigned letter. Lisa Norton photo
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With two
relatives, Uncle Ben Zene and Uncle Al D. Hyde, still suspect, the stakes were
high in the last lab. Which one wrote the unsigned letter?
“I
think it's Uncle Ben,” one of the girls judged. “He lives on a farm
so he'd have lots of stuff to give away,” like the gift promised in the letter.
Both uncles paid a visit to the lab where the young scientists were measuring
the viscosity, or thickness, of different goos. The girls timed BBs as they sank,
their faces intent under the fluorescent lights and their thumbs hovering above
stopwatch buttons. Throughout the day, the girls became
so accustomed to their safety glasses that some forgot to take them off. When
it was time for the wrap-up, back in the large auditorium, there was a thunderous
response when they finally got to share who'd written the letter.
“BEN!!”
The
discovery that chemistry is magical and fun was gift enough, but the thermochromic
pens, participation patches, and temporary chemistry tattoos and stickers weren't
bad either!
Program sponsors include the MU Department
of Chemistry, MU Research Reactor, MU Local Section of the American
Chemical Society, PTC Laboratories, MU Office of Admissions, MU
Campus Dining Services, MU Department of Physics, Pfizer, Fisher
Scientific and T's Etc.
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Last Update:
March 12, 2007
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