A&M Chemistry Road Show makes learning more fun with up close experiments

Waco, TX ( FOX 44 ) — Waiting for the show to begin, the audience is greeted by “The Chemistry Road Show” banner along with a long row of tables covered with chemicals, glassware, and other equipment many of us remember from school.

“When I first started teaching at Texas A&M this program was started by Dr. John Hogg about 35 years ago. He started doing campus demonstrations for his wife’s third-grade class,” says A&M Instructional Associate Professor of Chemistry, James Pennington.

Throughout the show audience members are wow-ed by explosions and chemical reactions. Right before your eyes, they experience a substance changing colors over and over again.

“When you’re a kid, that’s sort of the closest thing to practical magic. You can make things change color and all of that,” says Pennington.

James Pennington says he loves teaching people and just hopes to get a response from the audience every time.

“When it feels like, okay, people are connecting, understanding and they’re responding to the answer to the questions, and you feel like, okay, they’re getting something out of this,” says Pennington.

Evelyn Chew, a biomedical science major at A&M says she has always had a bit of a passion for doing random things.

“When I saw that he did something like this, where he went out to different communities and doing outreach and showing kids the impact of science, I couldn’t resist. I wanted to do this. And he showed our class and I was in love,” says Chew.

If you are interested in the show and want to know more about A&M chemistry road shows click https://www.chem.tamu.edu/roadshow/

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