Local youngsters got the chance to become little mad scientists at the Jericho Public Library’s auditorium recently when a special visitor got them involved with the marvels of motion in a very big way.
Mad Science is a world-wide organization based out of Toronto, Canada, and is dedicated to teaching kids science in a fun, inclusive way. The Long Island branch has been up and running for approximately 12 years, noted Mad Science’s resident “Mad Scientist” Xenon Zach.
Zach, of East Meadow, said he has always dreamed of the wonders and secrets of the mysterious unseen forces that make things tick ever since he was pint-sized, aspiring mad scientist.
“I’ve always been into science. I currently hold a college degree in it,” he said. “What I want to do is eventually get into graduate school and become an actual high school science teacher.”
Zach has been working with Mad Science for a little more than two years, holding interactive programming at Long Island libraries and schools and said that it’s been a lot of fun.
That day’s presentation at the Jericho Library—which drew a packed auditorium of kids and their parents—was quite literally about what makes things “go” on our planet.
“We’re doing a show called Marvels of Motion and we’re going to be talking all about motion and forces. We’re going to be covering things like gravity, centrifugal force and other aspects of motion,” he said. “The grand finale will be our rocket car. We’re going to be sending a few kids across the stage on a rocket car propelled by a fire extinguisher to demonstrate Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The fire extinguisher will go off in one direction and send the kids off in the opposite direction.”
Interaction is a vital part of any Mad Science production. Zach often invited up the best-behaved kids in the audience to get hands-on with his wacky experiments.
Mad Science mainly caters to the elementary school crowd and Zach said when it comes to introducing youngsters to the marvels of the scientific world, the best approach to take when it comes to truly capturing their attention is to simply be funny.
“If you make the kid laugh, they’re going to remember your joke and they’re going to remember the principle behind it. At least, that’s the way I see it,” he said. “I go to certain schools several times a year and the kids will tell me they remember what I said, and when I ask them why, they say it’s because I made them laugh.”
The program that day—enhanced with high-energy music—saw children getting involved with a plethora of experiments. Gabby, age 8, assisted Zach with illustrating Newton’s First Law of Motion (“an object at rest will remain at rest”) by knocking around an inflatable doll named Bobby, and Michael, age 6, got to speed across the stage on a fire-extinguisher-propelled rocket car in support of Newton’s law.
Zach said that the draw of science—and the desire to share that knowledge with young, up-and-coming little scientists—is the undeniable fact that, if properly applied, it can benefit our planet for generations to come.
“In the world that we live in, we really need to get more people thinking scientifically instead of thinking about money. If I can inspire kids to go out and look at things in a different way, maybe we can actually do something to better our planet,” he said. “It feels good that they remember me when I come back to their school or library and they remember the experiments we did together. It’s enjoyable because the kids laugh and smile, they run around and scream and all because of science.”
To find out more, visit: www.madscienceli.com.
