Natural Born Scientists ®, LLC

As an elementary grade boy, I would spend my summers in Leland Michigan. My parents had a house a couple hundred feet from a river. I had a lot of time on my hands to go fishing if I found my own bait. My mother told me that if I cleaned the fish, that she would fry them. I learned a lot from cleaning fish about biology. I think the long hours with the fishing line in the water taught me how to focus and think. One can identify almost the entire digestive track while cleaning fish.

So when I decided to teach dissecting, I felt confident using fish and called all the fish shop in Cincinnati looking for whole fresh fish. I have seen formaldhyde treated animal and wanted to avoid them like the plague. 

I found a fish store that sold whole fish and adventure a a remote part of the for the specimens. I found the store and aske for the whole perch. It took longer that I expected for the store attendent to get the fish, so I aked to see the fish when they were put on the counter. The store attendent had cleaned the fish assuming that no one would want uncleaned fish. I finally got the whole fish and the class went well. In fact, two of the parents were medical doctors and they helped teach the anatomy of the fish during dissection.

The dissection class at grade 4 turned out fine in my case, however in later year I have had students that were sensitive to this material. I highly suggest that one get concensus from all students and parents before teaching dissection.

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The nuts and bolts of electric motors. This classic project uses nuts, bolts, and brackets from the local hardware store. The electric armature is made from a pen. The motor is operated from four D size batteries. The designs is simple enough for nine year olds and yet teach the principles of electromagnetism. 

The wire used for this experiment it the same as telephone wire. At one time, this was the kind of wire a young person could find along the road after a phone line repair. Finer "magnet wire" was needed for the rotor that required greater repulsion forces to move. This is a fun way to make and learn about the electric motor.

The first Van De Graff generator could develop thousand of volt of electricity enough energy to smash a generator. This design can make one out of hardware store part and soda pop cans yet produce sparks of electricity that can travel a half in inch. The experiment help understand the source of electricity in our lives and the electrons that it is make up of.

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One of the best project done as a large class, the student still talk about it. The FM transmitter could communicate with inexpensive portable RM receiver to provide a two radio system. The kits have classic printed circuit board and the project was accomplished by every student. I was younger, had a lot of helping parents, and the kids were some of the best. The class had a well define goal, and the student took to it like a NASA project.

Early in my teaching years, I ordered classroom course books and material directely from Carolina Biologicals. An example of how education can be done with a cheap toy microscope with academically guide course literature. This is a great template for a teacher to establish their own course in microscope, because the content was of high quality. However, the last picture shows the impact of a USB digital microscope on the interested of the students. We included the first version of the Intel Q3 Toy USB digital microscope. In the year 2000, it was hard to justify $150 for a 320x240  resolution toy microscope. However, it was a harbinger of future courses to come.

This curriculum and material for this class was purchased from Carolina Biological. The course cost about $50 a student and the kits contain a workbook with batteries, battery holders, wire, cardboard boxes, and connectors. The student makes circuits that conduct electricity and also studies parallel and serial circuits with flashlight bulbs and bulb holders. The advance of this kit is that the workbooks were professionally written.

Images provided by Ákos Major (http://akosmajor.com). All rights reserved.

The electrophoresis kit has to be purchased from Carolina, however it is about as simple of a system that one can make for this kind of study leading into DNA analysis while teaching the fundamental principles used in the large expensive professional units. The system is almost indestructible, so it is good to learn on. The entire system can be set up by a student. The chemical structures of the dye can be used to predict it migration speed. The gel chamber can be used for viral DNA analysis and it PCR studies. The unit pays off for home study when the chamber is used for other seqencial experiments, like the fun forensics DNA kit.

Images provided by Kenneth K Brown. All rights reserved.

The 2 Liter soda pop bottle microcosm was one of the first , DIY, science projects with the philosphy of providing an experiment where all the material could be purchased cheeply for local stores. While it did provide a habitat for a week or two, it failed at the concept of making a sustainable small world. The water volume was too small to sustain the fish if the plants died off. The plants grew, matured, and died in   few weeks. This project provided the opportunity of observing the growth of fish, silver fish, and plants at home for a few weeks. It was cheap to make, and each to dispose. It was take off from the STC animal studies, but saved on money by using 2-L bottles and uses animals one can obtain from a pet store. The animal background information can be obtained from the internet. It is not designed to be sustainble for the natural life time of the animals.

Images provided by Kenneth K Brown. All rights reserved.

This is a must home science project for children. The kit contains everything needed. The catapillars come with enough food to raise them to cacoon. The kit come with a hatching boxes. The butterflies are a local variety and can be released or kept in a sunroom for a second generation release. The study materials provide guided study sheets. I really enjoyed doing this one.

Images provided by Kenneth K Brown. All rights reserved.

This is a formal teaching program that broke down many of the electromechanical concepts for a motor into easy playful units like spinning permanent magnets on the end of a straw, measuring the pull of magnets on washers, inducing magnetic fields with electric current. However, the DIY electric motor experiment does the same while producing a fun toy electric motor in the end. I think this was one case for showing the cost effectiveness of making your own kits if you have the educational background to teach the principles.

Images provided by Kenneth K Brown. All rights reserved.

Some of my first student, now teenager, get to use the UC Clermont Laboratories for chemistry experiments. We used Dr. Fankhausers enzyme activity experiment to measure the activity of papain and amalyase in cultures. They also studies how the activity was poinsoned.  

All the photos in this template are taken by Kenneth K Brown

All rights reserved.

The Wisconsin Fast Plant is a special academic hybrid plant that will go through it entire life cycle in 6 weeks under artificial light and the can be used to teach plant growth and used in plant experiment within the school quarter. Where it use to take a long time over yearly seasons to observe the effects of plant experiments, not a student can see the results in 6 weeks. The plant require pollination and the student learns about how to pollinate flowers. I am surprised that this plant has not been promoted more for learning in the home sector. 

Read the story of the Wisconsin Fast Plant, www.fastplants.org. There still some untold awesome stories, and this one is about a Professor who spent a life time tucked away in the greenhouses on his campus developing a plant that grows in 6 weeks, not a a fast source of food, but as a tool to study plant growth. I think the Wisconsin Fast Plant should be known to every student in the United States from biology classes that use to for hands on study of plants. The Fast Plant is grown under desk light conditions and go through it life cycle in 6 weeks. The plant is hand pollinted by mimiicing the bee. The seeds can be harvested and recycled. A decade later, I still have the light box that I used for my plants on my desk. This project has more portential to teach the secrets of botany than there is time to learn them. 

Lighter than air flight was one of first modes by which we left the earth and flew. The first balloons were hot air balloon, however the history of ballooning soon evolved into the use of gases like helium and hydrogen. Helium is inert and almost perfect for student experiments. Emotionally, this experiment produces a buoyant sense of mastery over the environment and a sense of release and freedom. First the student made model of balloon with gondolas like first used in human flight. Then we released messages into the air with the goal of collecting meteorological information on how far the balloons traveled. 

I found the opportunity at a party store that was going out of business to purchase one of their compressed gas cylinder. At the local gas filling company, I established a teaching account and they recorded the cylinder in their account and providing helium refills.

The history of lighter than air flight is coloful and interesting. Physics and math can be used to teach the concept of bouygancy and life. This experiment teaches while inspiring the spirit of adventure.

 The first satellite launched in 1957 shook the country to be bones waking us up to the space around the earth. About the same time, G. Harry Stine and Orville Carlisle started Model rocket companies. Like in the movie October Sky, Holmer Hickams across our country were forming rocket clubs to make and fly rockets while dreaming of space travel. This generation became the leaders of NASA and the people who landed the men on the moon.  The legacy continues and this industry continues to provide safe alternative to making your own rocket engines. NASA supports learning through model rocketry with free government subsidies learing material. 

It is not rocket science is a expression to denote simplicity. However, this is really rocket science and young scientist can learn progressively more and more about science and rocketry through this well extablished hobby. The 36 years of model rocket hobby is filled only with examples of learning and fun. I personally ahve never heard of a person hurt in this hobby and highly recommend it for young scientists.

The RC Hovercraft was a team project. Super Saturday Program stops didactic classes at the age of 14, and this class reached High School. I was also an adjunct professor of chemistry at UC Clermont when this particular class reached the end of elementary classwork and I had the opportunity to start a teen team Friday evening at UC Clermont campus. Using TQM training I received in the government, the team was facilitated to brain storm and develop their own project. These kids were programming microcontroller over a decade ago. This was one of those once in a lifetime experience that may not be possible to reproduce, but I think this approach may result in new and different projects with students in the future.

I was very fortunate to reach what I though would be the ideal situation to learn and study science, team projects. I look back and think this is even better than the days of my highschool science club, The Electromagnetic Researchrs, EMR.

DNA chemistry is a very important subject for the next generation to understand since it has had such an impact upon our quality of life with contemporary issue like DNA fingerprinint, Genetically Modified Foods, In vitro fertilization, genetic diseases, cloning, genetic engineering, just to name a few topic. This experiment extracts DNA out of onion cell using chemicals on can obtain in local stores. This is a good experiment to introduce DNA by actually extracting it, seeing it, and touching it.

There is a virus that attacks e coli bacteria that has been identified and studied in Universities around the world becoming an educational tool for students. Virus bacteria is small enough to easily separate and visualize in a student size electrophoresis chamber. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a biomedical technology in molecular biology used to amplify a single copy or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence. Carolina Biologicals provide a student PCR kit to amplify Lambda DNA. The system is simple and cheap enough for high school students to use and yet the principles are powerful enough to provide college level learning in a fun package. The safe viral DNA extract is provided by Carolina Biologicals.

The students conduct PCR amplification on DNA, prepare electrophoresis systems, and separate the DNA showing the relationship between method cycles and the amount of DNA obtained. I highly recommend this experiment for young scientists.

 About 300 years ago, Anton van Leeuwenhoek observed microorganisms using a single-lens microscope of his own design and Robert Hooke made the first recorded microscopic observation. These breakthough in science can be reproduced for elementary children today using toys with equivalent microscopic performance. Furthermore, computer microscopes can open this world to young people to learn. So children can now play with research tool that only the most advance scientist had 300 years ago. The eye never gets enough to see, or the ear to hear. For little investment, the microworld project provide the biggest return.

Carolina biologicals can provide pure cultures of microorganism so young scientist can observe the characteristics of known microorganism before attempting to identify them in outdoor samples. It is now possible for a young scientist to have his own zoo of amazing animals living in a few square inches on their desktop, like paramesium, ameobas, blesphasima, vinegar eels, volvos to name few.

Microscopis studies are good for a wide range of student ages from 4th grade to adulthood.