STEM education programs can be found in many areas of our community. Everyone involved is passionate about engaging students to help them be successful. Many outreach programs incorporate real-world applications to show how STEM is important in our everyday lives. Each year Vernier Software and Technology partners with In4All, a local non-profit that brings educators and businesses together to impact students who have been historically underserved at critical points in their K-12 education. In the STEM Connect 4/5 program, we are paired with a local elementary school to deliver hands-on learning experiences in the classroom that increase interest in STEM-related fields. Our classroom activity focuses on drinking water and creating a treatment and filtration system using supplies such as sand, charcoal, and baking soda. We talk about acids and bases and why the pH of water is important using examples from our daily lives. Students also learn about turbidity and what that means. Then, they are tasked with building a filtration system and measuring the effectiveness by comparing the pH and turbidity values before and after. Additional ideas that reach beyond chemistry such as wind energy will be shared.

Learning about pH and turbidity using a water treatment and filtration activity

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.