Wheaton News

Wheaton students and faculty share the excitement of science

A half-dozen Norton elementary school students shook with effort as they stirred a cup half full of slowly thickening liquid, intent on transforming the mixture into slime.

“That’s it; keep stirring,” said Darin Johnson-Sweet ’25, as he and Juliana Cooper ’27 presided over a table of color dye, glitter, sprinkles and other ingredients that would allow each student to make the finished product their own.  

While unspoken, the message behind the activity—that science and engineering are exciting—was clearly delivered and received. And that was the goal of the Third Annual Norton Community STEAM Showcase, which involved nearly a dozen Wheaton students and a handful of professors promoting science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. 

“I want students to see that they can do anything they are interested in doing in the STEAM fields, and see that there are people here in the Norton community who are doing just that,” said Kerri Murphy, the coordinator of the event and a technology teacher at Norton High School.

“The amount of engagement from the students was surprising to me,” said Johnson-Sweet. “We barely had a break during the event. The students really seemed interested in the activities we were running, and our overall goal was to make science fun and less scary for them.”  

He and Cooper represented the college’s chapter of the American Chemical Society. Professors Bob Morris and Dipankar Maitra offered shared activities based on prisms and the properties of light. Michelle Curran-Mason, director of the college’s Early Education Center, joined students in creating a learning center that leveraged engineering skills to build a bridge and binoculars for a teddy bear hunt. The Education Club offered an experiment on how to determine the freight capacity of a bathtub boat. Students enrolled in the course “Teaching Music in the United States,” taught by Professor of Music Ann Sears, shared music from different cultures and helped students make rhythm shakers.

“It was so amazing to see students thrilled about new concepts, activities, and ideas, and I loved seeing the sparks go off within these children,” said Madison LaBreck ’27, an elementary education major who participated at the fair. “It was incredible to see children working so hard to investigate and explore, while also creating and learning along the way with smiles on their faces throughout the night.”

Associate Professor of Education Sara Donaldson, who serves on the advisory committee that organizes the showcase, recruited Wheaton community members to participate.

“For our students, it is a chance to share their love of their subject area with younger students to help them get excited about STEM and engage with ideas in a fun and interactive way that is often different from how they experience it in school,” Donaldson said.

“And those students who intend to become teachers gain direct and practical experience,” she added. “Collaborating with families and community members in support of students’ learning and well-being is one of the professional teaching standards with which they are expected to develop proficiency, so this is a great opportunity for them to work on developing that capacity and to see what is possible.”

The reaction of the Norton schoolchildren was encouraging; the Wheaton students and faculty were busy for the entire evening. 

“The students were very eager to jump into the hands-on experiences,” Cooper said afterward. “They were excited to make their own slime and mesmerized by the oil/water lava lamps we made for them. I hope they learned that science goes beyond what is taught in the classroom. Science is meant to be fun and exciting.”

Rosa Heric ’27, who is majoring in psychology, said the variety of ways that the children approached engineering problems reinforced their creativity and individuality. 

“Kids have such a thirst for discovery, and I think it’s our responsibility to educate and excite them so that that curiosity never diminishes,” she said. “I was really grateful to have even a small role in educating during the STEAM event. It was definitely enjoyable and valuable, and I hope to be there again in the future!”