The Science Lab Teaching Club
The Science Lab Teaching Club (SLTC) had an eventful year! The club started the year by presenting outreach efforts at the Science Symposium at CNSI and had an accompanying recruitment. At UCLA’s Exploring Your Universe we led demonstrations about the chemistry, biology, and physics behind nutritional science. Club members presented on measuring ion concentrations of household beverages with a multimeter, starch and iodine experiments, and how to read nutrition labels.
SLTC also went to Fairburn Elementary and demonstrated endothermic vs. exothermic reactions, the chemistry of pH, and how fluorescence works, all as they related to Halloween special effects! Later in the year, SLTC visited Brentwood Science Magnet where we performed egg-drop experiments with the GATE program students as a fun and engaging way to explain the scientific method. Upcoming events include the Westwood Charter Science Slam, where the club will present on electromagnetic and mechanical waves. For these events we coordinate with the Physics Demo Lab to bring age-appropriate college-level demos. The club also has a second presentation at Brentwood Science Magnet (after popular student demand!) and will bring materials to build bridges where the students will compete to create a bridge with the best load efficiency. K-12 students love the hands-on demonstrations made possible by funding from the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy as well as coordination with the UCLA Physics Demo Lab.