Middle school students ‘digest’ new information

PALMER — “Raise your hand if that was the most disgusting thing you’ve ever done in your life,” biology professor Kathleen Nevis yelled to her summer science camp at Mat-Su College Friday.

A few of the 24 middle school students taking part in the camp raised their hands, as they had just learned how the digestive system works. The last step of their lesson involved feces.

Fortunately, however, it wasn’t real feces. It was only a mixture of bread, oats, coffee and water, but the activity at hand made it easy for middle school minds to wander.

The exercise started at the end of a 10-foot piece of construction paper with an illustration of the entire digestive system. The foods were mixed with “saliva” to simulate chewing and swallowing, before they traveled through the esophagus, stomach and the intestines. Along the way, different liquids were added to the mix, including bile, gastric acid and protease.

Before the blend made its way to the end of the system, students patted it down with a towel to simulate the water-absorbing power of the small and large intestines.

The end result was unsettling, to say the least.

“As much as this was disgusting, they’re going to remember this,” Nevis said afterward.

Making unforgettable experiences is part of the camp’s mentality, according to Nevis. She has placed a large focus on the idea of hands-on learning, trading textbooks for fun activities like Friday’s lesson. Nevis also included arts and crafts into the curriculum, as a way to combine science with creativity.

“Our goal was just to get them excited about learning,” she said.

The five-day camp was packed full of similar projects. Students tested their senses, looked at their own cheek cells through a microscope, observed different reflexes, and simulated heart dissections.

“It has an obvious educational component, but we really wanted to focus on doing activities that are hands-on,” Nevis said.

This was the first camp of a series that will focus on science; the final week will feature crime scene investigation forensics. Nevis said she also hopes to continue the camp in coming years. The event could even expand to include an energy conservation camp for high school students, she said.

The final session of Mat-Su College’s middle school science camp is July 20 to 24 and will focus on “Crime Scene Investigation.”

For more information, contact summer@matsuk.alaska.edu or 745-9775.

Contact Kaden Weaver at 352-2270 or kaden.weaver@frontiersman.com.