On Thursday, 10-year-old Baile Kalaukoa loved her science class.
Most days, as she explains it, learning at her school - Orchard Knob Elementary - is focused on books. Other kids will talk or laugh and struggle to pay attention. Even Kalaukoa has lost interest at time, she admits.
But not Thursday.
"We got to experiment with how oil and water separate," she said. "We used food color and made a lava lamp. When we regularly do science we do it out of a book and we read it and they [the other students] joke around, but today we could actually see what happened."
To celebrate National Chemistry Week, employees with BASF, a German chemical manufacturing company with a facility in Chattanooga, came to the school to offer a hands-on lab for more than 100 fifth-graders and help expose the children to a career in the chemical manufacturing industry.
The company has been partnering with the school for 30 years.
"Through Kids' Lab, we inspire students to explore the world of science and see how chemistry colors the world around them," said Robert Gagliano, BASF site manager. "The students love getting their hands dirty, and our employees get to see young minds light up with a new understanding of what science is and where it can take them."
Lafrederick Thirkill, principal at Orchard Knob, said experiences like the chemistry lab are invaluable for his students.
To be successful later in life, they have to know how classroom knowledge is applied in the real world. Beyond knowing the answers to pass a test, Thirkill said, they need to be able to reason and think and problem-solve, and project-based learning like chemistry labs help students build those skills.
"When you walk into the room and see kids in this kind of learning environment, they all looked engaged. They all looked like dreamers," Thirkill said. "That is what I love the most about it."
It also sparks interest that could lead them to the future they wouldn't have considered otherwise, he said.
Kalaukoa, for example, was thinking about becoming a nurse.
Now the plan may change.
Contact staff writer Joan McClane at 423-757-6633 or jmcclane@timesfreepress.com.