Columbus middle schoolers get hands-on STEM lessons at Ohio State

Columbus middle schoolers get hands-on STEM lessons at Ohio State

University hosts 'Breakfast of Champions' for over 300 students

More than 300 central Ohio middle school students visited The Ohio State University's Columbus campus on May 10 to participate in hands-on activities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The annual event, Breakfast of Champions, is designed to provide early exposure to STEM to encourage students to further explore related subjects in college and consider careers in the field, said Shiyu Zhang, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, who helped to coordinate the event.

"A lot of these students, they haven't seen a college campus before, so this is their chance to come see what science is doing and they get to talk with grad students, they get to talk with faculty," he said. "This has a long-term impact on their perception of what university is about, what STEM research is about."

Ohio State has hosted the Breakfast of Champions for the past 10 years, Zhang said.

"During COVID, we were down for two years," he said. "Last year, we restarted in the Department of Chemistry, and this year we expanded to different colleges."

Columbus City Schools students from Dominion and Ridgeview middle schools also visited the following areas: the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering; Ohio 4-H Youth Development and the Department of Entomology, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Department of Neuroscience, College of Medicine; and the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center.

At the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the middle school students gathered in the lobby of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering building. They observed an experiment in which Ohio State graduate students demonstrated the force of gravity in space.

The graduate students placed a figure made of marshmallows in a small vacuum chamber. The figure inflated and deflated, depending on the amount of air pressure that was added or removed from the chamber.

The students then broke into small groups and visited various research laboratories.

"It could be a chemistry demo. It could be some sort of experiment that they try themselves. Usually, it's related to the particular research topic in that group," Zhang said. "They will do that four times, and then after the four rotations, they all come back here and we'll make some liquid nitrogen ice cream for them."

During a chemistry research lab visit, Ohio State graduate students showed the middle schoolers how to combine components to create slime with just the right consistency to stick to surfaces.

"I just hope that they see that there's interesting stuff going on in these science labs, that there's a place for them, that we're having fun here and we're learning things," said Professor Lisa Hall. "Our learning objective is about molecules. We're trying to see if they can learn that molecules, even though you can't see them, they're what's setting the properties of the material."

At the Department of Neuroscience in Graves Hall, graduate students displayed human brains that have been donated for medical research. Students asked questions such as, "Are the memories still in the brain?"

The students also played an electronic game called Mind Flex Duel, which tests mind-eye concentration and cognitive abilities.

Breakfast of Champions gave students an opportunity to see real-life applications of science, said Dominion Middle School teacher Lauren Noble.

The event enables students "to engage with science actively, to get out of a traditional classroom and to get a hands-on experience, which they're totally doing," she said.

"We study the Ohio standards for science, but to be able to dive deep and get to see an aspect of science, to study the neurology and to see them touch a brain - that is so incredible. It gives them, I think, a better understanding, a deeper appreciation. Any time you can make learning hands-on and engaging, I think it's great."

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