Bright minds: Notre Dame's summer camp examines the properties of light

Notre Dame Regional High School teachers Jerry Landewe and Angie Schaefer have to keep the curriculum fresh for summer science campers because so many return every summer. With the observatory new to the school, astronomy was on the agenda. Class met there Thursday night to look at the stars. They also identified Jupiter and five of its moons.

"We got a lot of oohs and ahhs from the parents and the kids," Landewe said.

But it wasn't all about astronomy -- there was chemistry, biology and a little physics, with experiments centered on light.

Schaefer, who has been teaching the camp for four years, said the camp is a little more difficult to plan for and orchestrate than a regular science class because one of the objectives is to intrigue, and campers expect constant activity. If campers aren't occupied, they'll find ways to occupy themselves. But for the most part the group of 17 campers stayed on task, making the weeklong adventure a smooth operation.

New activities

Trever Foultz of Marble Hill, Mo., was fascinated with the laser art activity. Trever's group created a baseball diamond by applying baby powder, whose particles reflected the light. Students were challenged to manipulate the laser and mirror to create their own chosen shape. An Immaculate Conception student who will be in sixth grade in the fall, Trever has made three friends at the camp, which he's attending for the first time.

"I think I might see them again next year," he said.

One of the new activities this year was the dissection of a cow's eye. Schaefer orders them from a local supplier to use in safety demonstrations in her regular classroom to prove how powerful acid is. The dissection was meaningful because cows' eyes are similar to human eyes. Students had to pull out the iris after cutting the eye in half to identify the pupil. They also removed the lens. Some looked through it, others placed it on text to notice its ability to magnify. Students were asking to dissect a frog next.

Tiffany Ables of Sikeston, Mo., a Notre Dame alumna, has helped out for three years at the camp. She takes a week off from her job in Sikeston to do this because it's fun.

The preparation and supervision of activities requires extra help.

"We'd be lost" without the alumni, Landewe said.

Before the camp, teachers met for a couple of hours twice a week for three weeks. They tried out all the experiments to make sure they work.

Students took home a telescope made from PVC pipe, T-shirts made from light-sensitive dyes and a method of identifying spiders at night with a flashlight.

cpagano@semissourian.com

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