Science Theatre is offering volunteering opportunities developing original scientific demonstrations for our performances that can earn you extra credit points or serve as an honors option in participating MSU courses. You must discuss this project with your professor before beginning work to ensure that it is appropriate for your course. Please also read this page thoroughly before starting your project.
The goal of the project is to develop a new demonstration that MSU Science Theatre's undergraduate volunteers can perform at schools and events throughout Michigan. There are countless concepts in science that we do not yet know how to explain to young students - by developing a demonstration, you are using your expertise from your coursework to figure out the best way to explain one such concept.
What to do
The project must satisfy these requirements:
- The demonstration must illustrate scientific concepts relevant to your course.
- The demonstration may be focused for elementary, middle, or high schoolers - or you could provide instructions for adapting it for multiple age groups.
- The demonstration cannot involve materials that are extremely expensive (i.e. consumable costing more than ~$20 per performance or equipment costing much more than ~$100).
- The demonstration may not involve live animals and must be safe for the performers and audience.
- The demonstration cannot be one that we already perform.
- You must document your demonstration using our standard template. Your writeup should be at least two pages in length, discussing both the demonstration procedure and scientific background.
- Your writeup should thoroughly document all necessary safety precautions.
- Any ideas or content that you adopt from other sources must be carefully cited.
- You must check with your professor to see if they have additional requirements specific to your course. For instance, some professors may require you to develop more than one demonstration or participate in Science Theatre performances.
How to do it
First look at a sample writeup of a Science Theatre demonstration: Buffers and blood
Your demonstration writeup should be similar to this document, including both a detailed set of performance instructions and thorough scientific background material. Most of your work will go to developing an idea for an original demonstration. A Science Theatre demonstration must keep the attention of the target age group while imparting a particular scientific concept in just 5-10min. Here are a few techniques we often use:
- Live demonstrations: Some concepts can be directly demonstrated. For instance, we demonstrate the Bernoulli effect, which states that moving fluids exert less pressure, by levitating a beach ball with an air blower.
- Activities: Demonstrations that directly involve students are great teaching tools. For instance, we demonstrate natural selection by having a students play a game where they try to catch different colored animals against a solid-color background.
- Illustrative analogs: Sometimes physical phenomenon operate on huge or tiny scales, or under extreme conditions, so we can merely illustrate them rather than demonstrate. For instance, as part of a larger demonstration, we illustrate a supernova (the death of a star) using a simple color-changing reaction.
- Human models: For very young students, it may be helpful to model physical phenomenon by using the students themselves as components of the system. For instance, we model the chemical elements by assigning different students to be protons, neutrons, and electrons.
- Theatre: You can wrap a series of small illustrations or demonstrations into a narrative that can make the subject more relatable or exciting. For instance, we explore quantum mechanics with a variety of demonstrations and a cameo by Albert Einstein. This usually requires a full script for the performers to memorize, rather than simply demonstration instructions.
No matter what demonstration technique you use, try to include as much audience interaction as possible. If your demonstration does not lend itself easily to hands-on participation, your writeup should include discussion questions to be posed.
Where to find help
You must discuss your project with your professor so that you are aware of all the project requirements for your particular course.
If you have any questions about Science Theatre's demonstration requirements, plesae contact Assistant Director Nathan Sanders at sande253@msu.edu. If you need help with the scientific content of your demonstration, you should contact your professor or the Science Theatre officer working on related material (e.g. the Biology Director for a physiology project). Your course textbook or other library resources may be your most useful reference - be sure to cite your sources!
Please also contact the Assistant Director (sande253@msu.edu) regarding any materials that need to be purchased. You may be required to find a supplier for any exotic materials or to construct any custom equipment.