In November, Benjamin Carson High School freshmen had the opportunity to visit Wayne State University’s chemistry department and tour the area under the guidance of Dr. Emil Lozanov.
“The students went to Wayne State, into an actual college classroom and had an actual college professor and go through different experiments that you would go through in a normal chemistry class,” said Kwesi Matthews, 9th grade biology teacher.
“From there, the group split up into three groups where one group went and practiced experiments, another group went and took a tour of the chemistry building, and then the third group went to a planetarium show,” Matthews said.
Dr. Lozanov prepared a show for the students.
“For about one hour in the lecture hall I gave inspiring science and chemistry demonstrations, designed as magic," Lozanov said in an email. "By introducing a part of chemistry, telling the day of any month and date, multiplying two digit numbers, I wanted to excite the students and show that chemistry and mathematics are not boring -- they are a lot of fun."
Topics covered in the experiments included matter, physical and chemical change (chemical reactions), elements, compounds, plating (copper metal covers iron nails), oxidation, reduction, pH scale, pH of some home substances , acids, bases, and acid rain.
“I was impressed with the knowledge of the ninth grade students, their interest in chemistry, and the discipline at the time of the experiment,” Lozanov said. “It's important for students to have trips to universities to learn more about science and chemistry and to do experiments in real chemistry laboratories following safety rules. The students also had a planetarium show and a trip in the chemistry department research lab, where they learned how chemistry research goes-topics, equipment and safety. In field trips students increase their knowledge, and I hope the ninth graders also learned.”
