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Life sciences graduate Ishika Kumar helps third-grade students at Coutts Paradise Elementary School experiment with spaghetti sticks, tape, string, and marshmallows.
Written by Jay Robb, Faculty of Science
April 1, 2024
When Ishika Kumar visited a third-grade class at Coutts Paradise Elementary School, a few bus stops from McMaster, she saved the most important lesson for last.
Kumar is a volunteer with Let’s Talk Science, an award-winning national charity. The organization has provided free His STEM programs to children, youth, and educators for 30 years. The McMaster branch is one of the oldest and largest, with just over 100 students in science, engineering, and health sciences.
From 2022 to 2023, McClue conducted 154 activities at schools and community events with more than 8,200 children and young people.
The program also has recent graduates like Kumar, who graduated last spring with an honors degree in life sciences and minors in psychology, neuroscience and behavioral studies. She hopes to enroll in graduate school at McMaster University this fall.
On this trip with Mac students Jenny Doan and Melanie Warnakula, Kumar combined physics lessons with hands-on fun. Four student teams put on their science and engineering hats and spent 30 minutes building towers out of spaghetti sticks, string, tape, and marshmallows.
When time ran out, Kumar measured the height of the tower to see if he could blow it away with a fan. Team 4 runs into trouble in the tower, and Kumar rallies to help the class.
This is when Kumar imparted his most important lesson. “Just because you do an experiment the first time doesn’t mean it’s the best time. You might have to repeat it thousands of times until you get the best one.”
All scientists are familiar with trial and error, Kumar said. If scientists are not successful at first, they try again and again and ask others to help. She noted that each team came up with their own ideas. Next time, what if you combine those ideas to build an even taller, stronger tower?
The children asked many questions before, during, and after the experiment. Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean and why doesn’t it fall? Is McMaster making computer implants that go directly into people’s brains? Are you a PhD student? Did you know that crash test dummies aren’t actually stupid? Did you know that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around?
“Can I eat a marshmallow?” I asked the question many times, but the teacher continued to refuse. The kids who wanted to grab the string got the go-ahead.
The visit ended just as the Cookie Club announcement came over the PA system. As the children made a beeline for the door, they thanked Mr. Kumar, Mr. Doan and Mr. Warnakula for their science lesson. Then I checked one last time to see if I could eat the marshmallow.
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