Dessert and Demos

The PLU Chemistry Department students and faculty are hosting hands-on chemistry activities and chemical demonstrations on the evening of Wednesday April 16th from 7:00-8:30 p.m. in Rieke Science Center. The event will begin with desserts, including liquid nitrogen ice cream made on the spot, then progress to our Open Laboratory where students will have the opportunity to do several hands-on chemistry activities with faculty and students. This year our Chem Club will also debut some hydrogen and solar energy demonstrations (using model cars, etc.) purchased through a grant from the Puget Sound Section of the ACS. To bring the evening to a close, the faculty have chosen to do several favorite chemical demonstrations. If some of your students (accompanied by you or a parent or guardian) are able to come, I would appreciate a reply with an approximate count of attendees. We are inviting students from just a few local schools, and attendance is limited due to the hands-on activities. Directions to Rieke Science Center can be found at: http://www.chem.plu.edu/directions.html It would be great if you and some of your students could join us. Best wishes, Craig Fryhle Dean of Chemistry

Wonderful news! Both the Navigators and Explorers have been invited to attend the Desserts and Demos again this year. For those of you who attended last year, you know what a blast (figuratively not literally) it was! If you and your Explorer are interested in attending then please let Mr. G. or me know. I want to make certain that parents are aware that this is NOT a field trip and that PARENTS are in charge of getting their child to and from the event. I look forward to seeing you then.

On the classroom front, we have had an exciting time completing our studies of the Middle Ages and on beginning the Renaissance.

As you are no doubt aware, the Renaissance spans a 300 year period from the 1300's to the 1600's. During this time there was the "rebirth" of culture and scientific learning that changed the face of Europe. At the center of the Renaissance was Florence, Italy.

On Friday, the Explorers were treated to my slide show completing our studies of the Middle Ages and we launched into an in-depth coverage of the political structure of the Italian city states of Florence, Rome and Genoa. Students also got to use a bar of soap, Irish Spring so the room smelled minty green, and they started to "carve" a statue from their "marble" slab. The results were quite interesting. Nothing like first hand art appreciation!

In an effort to make learning come alive, today I showed the Explorers a CD entitled, "Leonardo, the Inventor, Take a Look into the Greatest Mind the World has ever Known". Feel free to check it out from your local library. In addition to fascinating interactive information on Leonardo da Vinci, students were also able to "see" some of his inventions in a 3 d display. Also, the CD had an interactive game of answering questions in a Treasure Hunt which proved quite challenging. So when your child tells you this evening that Mrs. Gellert played video games all day in class, trust me when I say I did show them some cool educational interactive ones with very challenging questions.