A group of Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UT Health San Antonio students volunteered at Boys & Girls Club STEM Fall Family Day. The STEM Day featured booths from Learn To DJ, Geekbus, Pony Trap, and the Octa-Tetra Museum.

Volunteers included Liz Fisher, Angie Salinas, Brian Iskra, Alicia Avelar, Meghan Guzman, Iriscilla Ayala, and Miryam Pando.

During the event, students led a corn starch experiment, a cornstarch-water mixture which was an example of a non-Newtonian fluid.

“My most memorable moment was showing the kids how to interact with the non-Newtonian fluid in different ways (dipping their hands in the fluid slowly vs. slapping the fluid),” said Alicia Avelar.

The students had fun showing students how the mixture could act as both a solid and as a liquid as demonstrated by the video with researcher Liz Fisher.

The second experiment featured an egg in a jar. The STEM Day guests would shake the jar as hard as they could. In most cases the egg did not break but sometimes it did.

The experiment helped showcase how the consequences of brain injury can be mild to severe and that we should take precaution to maximize brain safety.

The third experiment allowed participants to see germs through the use of a UV light which reminded them of the importance of good hygiene.

Finally, students took home our Pipette Kids Coloring and Activity book and also took selfies with our scientists.