Fredericksburg Academy sophomore Enoch Huffman partnered up with Towson High School junior Liam Hill to investigate the energy in biopolymers in carbohydrates and proteins by setting food on fire. The session, ‘Polymers, Plastics and Me,’ was one of several providing hands-on learning opportunities to high-schoolers during UMW’s Summer Enrichment Program. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.
From mixing paint pigments to mixing music, high school students in UMW’s Summer Enrichment Program signed up for a week of college-level learning paired with outdoor activities in the Fredericksburg area. By day three in the week-long program, they had visited Ferry Farm and Kenmore, picked up litter along the Rappahannock River and tied flies for fishing, but it’s the in-classroom experience that kept them fired up.
In a chemistry lab, Fredericksburg Academy sophomore Enoch Huffman partnered up with Towson High School junior Liam Hill to investigate the energy in biopolymers in carbohydrates and proteins by setting food on fire. Under the instruction of Associate Professor of Chemistry Leanna Giancarlo, teams of students lit popcorn or cheese puffs on fire to measure the increasing temperature of a container of water positioned carefully above it. The effect was illuminating and an extension of chemistry classes Huffman and Hill experienced in their high schools, but even more hands-on, and it followed lessons on making slime and extracting DNA.
Students in the Science of Paint session gathered in an art studio instead of the lab, but also considered the chemistry of their process, learning how paint is made from a variety of techniques and perspectives. Co-taught by Assistant Professor of Chemistry Sarah Smith and Assistant Professor of Theatre Bridgette Dennett, the session combined the chemical composition of paint with color theory – providing all the ingredients for a masterpiece. Read more.