About Me
Hi. My name is Krystal Grieger. I am
starting my third year of graduate school studying organic chemistry at North
Dakota State University (NDSU). I am a North Dakota native who grew up in
the small town of Gardena, ND. I attended high school in Bottineau,
graduating in 2006. In May 2015, I obtained my bachelor's degree from NDSU with
a double major in chemistry and chemistry education and a minor in biology.
I have a wide variety of interests, which range from
reading to baking. One of my favorite things that I enjoy doing is scientific
outreach activities for kids. I’ve
included some of the links for demonstration ideas which I find interesting if
you want to give them a try. In addition to outreach, I was recently elected
president of NDSU’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Student Association so
looking forward to see how that goes in the coming year. Looking further into the future, my long term
goal is to teach at a regional university.
Outreach Activities
Making Slime – Slime seems to be the craze these days especially with
all the add-ins which can include sequins, beads, glitter, glow-in-the-dark
paint or my personal favorite fluorescent dye. I purchased the dye from
Education Innovations, though most science education sites carry it.
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream – Kids seem to find liquid nitrogen super
cool and making ice cream with it is a lot of fun.
** In addition to making ice cream,
my personal favorite is to pour some of the LN2 into a container and place
balloons into it without telling the students what it in the bucket until
afterwards. I usually let little kids predict how many balloons will fit in my
bucket and then watch them be amazed as many more fit in, which is followed by
the equal surprise when the kids get to watch the balloons “re-inflate” as they
warm back up. Excellent way to
demonstrate Charles’ Law.
Making Casein Plastic – This one works well with older middle to junior
high school students as well as with younger students and the scope of the
explanation can be tailored to each.
Balloon Spearing – This one can be done as described by putting the
dish soap on the balloon itself, or a slightly cleaner way is to put the dish
soap in sample vials and have the students dip the skewer into the soap before
spearing the balloon. In addition, if
you have the students return the skewers they can be re-used from one
demonstration event to the next.
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