PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- Stirring chocolate powder and milk, 13 kindergarteners learned how cooking and chemistry work together during a STEM event at Picatinny Arsenal on Nov. 1.
This marked the first time that STEM outreach included the Arsenal's kindergarteners.
The class is part of the Arsenal's Child Youth Services-School Age Services program. The Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, Outreach Office is a group found within the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development Engineer Center, or ARDEC, one of the largest organizations at Picatinny.
The STEM Office focuses on promoting careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by developing STEM educational resources and assisting local schools and teachers.
Picatinny's STEM Office often works with local middle schools and high schools in educational events, such as solar races, 3-D printing classes, summer STEM programs and various robotics competitions.
But this "Chemistry and Cooking" event was the first STEM event for the Arsenal's kindergarten class.
"When we talk about STEM, we want to be able to say that it's everywhere. It's in everything that we do, touch, and experience--from your iPhone to what's in a box of cereal--there's some STEM involved," said Douglas Wong, a systems engineer from ARDEC.
Wong has been part of the Picatinny's STEM Education Outreach Office for almost eight years.
The focus was on mixtures--what a mixture means, how to create them, how heat affects a mixture, what's an emulsifier, and why some items mix well together, but others don't.
It was taught by Douglas Wong and Shauna Dorsey, an ARDEC scientist, who started the lesson by asking the class what they think scientists do, as well as what science and chemistry mean.
"A scientist asks questions," said a young girl, waving her hand in air. "They figure things out!"
"Science means you make things like solar systems or volcanoes," added another girl.
"Chemistry means you put chemicals in things," replied a boy, smiling at his answer.
During the event, students had a hands-on opportunities to mix chocolate powder and milk to learn how chocolate milk is a mixture.
They also were encouraged to shake mason jars of different mixtures, such as salt with water, dye and water, or beans with water, to learn about the visual difference between a homogenous (a consistent) versus a heterogeneous (a diverse) mixture.
MACARONI CHEMISTRY
However, the main experiment focused on helping Wong make homemade macaroni and cheese, and showing students how chemistry applies to the process, such as how hot water can soften pasta or how eggs and evaporated milk can help to melt cheddar cheese.
Circling around the bowl as Wong mixed the ingredients, there were a series of "oohs" and "aahs" from the students.
Meanwhile, Dorsey asked students to help her list the ingredients involved in the mixture, such as cheese, pasta, and milk.
"The biggest perspective I've learned is not taking anything for granted," said Wong as he shared the lessons he's learned from working with kids in STEM.
"Kids these days--my head explodes. They're learning how to code at five-years-old. The only code that I knew about when I was five, was a secret ring in a cereal box. But, they're actually on a computer, creating applications. It's incredible. It's so surprising."
The students ended their lesson by eating their mac and cheese and drinking their chocolate milk as Wong and Dorsey took questions from the students.
"For us, this kind of event means that our students get that extra lesson in inquiry based learning and hands-on experiments," said Taryn Gray, the kindergarten lead teacher.
"So, having ARDEC employees come to visit is a great experience for them."
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The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, whose mission is to provide innovative research, development and engineering to produce capabilities that provide decisive overmatch to the Army against the complexities of the current and future operating environments in support of the joint warfighter and the nation.
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