Mad About Science

By Leslie Cranford, section manager

I am a mad scientist
and a future Red Raider.
I am planning a hypothesis
to test a little later.

I will mix up some solutions
to see the cool reactions.
And work on engineering
some really great contraptions.

I am studying my physics
and my chemistry
to be the greatest scientist
the world has ever seen!

This poem, written by Texas Tech K-12 science teacher Brett Mosley and posted on the video board in one of the classrooms at Texas Tech University’s DFW site, welcomed 10 students to Texas Tech K-12’s Mad Scientist Camp in early August.

Principal of Texas Tech K-12, Cari Moye, whose daughter attended the camp, was delighted with the two-day event.

“Our talented Mr. Mosley brought science to life by teaching chemistry and physics concepts. Students were thrilled with and very engaged in the hands-on activities,” Moye said “They had a blast, and enjoyed every minute.”

Mosley summarized the camp in his own words.

“The kids spent the first day as if they were Issac Newton learning about all the properties of motion. They built and tested paper rockets, engineered a race car using a mousetrap for propulsion, used Bernoulli’s principles to inflate huge balloons in a few breaths and perfected robots that could draw crazy patterns. These mad scientists put their engineering skills to fantastic use.

On the second day, Marie Curie was our inspiration. We learned about her impact on science before setting our own sights on chemical exploration. The mad scientists deduced the best way to clean coins using vinegar and salt, experimented with fluids in making our own Oobleck, saw how polar and nonpolar solutions interact with homemade lava lamps, and called on their own experiences with polymers making glow-in-the-dark slime. But an idea of the scientists' own was finding out how the Mentos-Coke reaction really worked. We jump-started our scientific minds, talked out the research, donned our ponchos and headed outside for some explosives science. Seeing those fountains of soda erupt was our best moment of the camp!

So much science education comes from just doing. These new Red Raider mad scientists are engaged and excited about science, and that is what makes these camps so special.”