I teach the 9-year-olds in Primary (Sunday School), and this week’s lesson was based on chapter seven in the book of Matthew:
Matthew 7: 24-27
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
At the end of the lesson, I wanted to illustrate that you can’t always rely on your own judgement in determining whether something is solid or not. And what better way to make that point than with non-Newtonian fluids?
So, in addition to the lesson manual and my scriptures, I packed up a pan, a large spoon, a measuring cup, and a Ziploc bag full of cornstarch, and headed to church.
The Primary lesson went quite well, and when it came time for our little object lesson, I sent two of the boys to fill the measuring cup with water. While they were gone, I showed everyone the Ziploc bag with cornstarch. I explained that cornstarch was a very fine powder, similar to powdered sugar. (In fact, most powdered sugar contains cornstarch where it acts as an anti-clumping/anti-caking agent.)
The kids asked if they could feel the cornstarch, but I knew that if I let them stick their fingers in the bag, we’d end up with cornstarch everywhere. So I told them they could come up and feel it inside the bag.
A few of the kids came up to the front and felt the cornstarch in the bag, but one of the little girls didn’t just feel the bag, she squeezed it. Hard. And…
POOF!!!
The Ziploc bag, the opening of which was aimed straight at my face, exploded. It was like she’d pulled the pin on a cornstarch grenade. I waited for a few seconds for the dust to clear, but then I realized the reason that I couldn’t see anything was that my glasses were covered in cornstarch. I took them off (revealing a perfect outline of where they had been) and looked down. There wasn’t an inch of me that wasn’t covered with cornstarch.
Just then, the two boys who had left to fill the measuring cup with water opened the door to the classroom. I turned, and the boys, being greeted by a large powdered ghost and the hysterical shrieks of a dozen laughing kids, nearly dropped the measuring cup and ran.
Chaos ensued. But by the end of class, we managed to get things cleaned up (somewhat) and we were able to recover enough cornstarch from my clothes for a slightly scaled-down version of the original experiment.
As a teacher, I sometimes wonder if the things that I say will be remembered. Probably not. But I have a feeling that, years from now, in a religion class at BYU, they’ll come to the seventh chapter of Matthew and some kid in the back will raise his hand and say…
“When I was nine, I had this crazy teacher who thought it would be a good idea to illustrate this point with non-Newtonian fluids…”
If that’s the case, the next time we get to this part of the New Testament, I may just pull out all the stops and do this:
Of course, that would work for Matthew 14, too…
Comments
Kate
I’d have just enthusiastically sung that song with the hand gestures (RESPECTABLE hand gestures):
But I THANK YOU for the mental image of you as a “large powdered ghost.” Ah yes - I’m going to hold onto that one.
Sheesh. I’ve only fallen SEEMINGLY arbitrarily to the ground while conducting the music (I stepped out of my shoe and then tripped on it and biffed it dramatically - yes, the kids called me the “Crazy Lady” - but in a nice way). You managed an EXPLOSION; that’s more than cool.
Kimball
Question: Is a “non-Newtonian fluid” one that can’t be found in the middle of a Fig (or Apple, or Strawberry, or …) Newton? Remember: I was an English major.
grettir
I’m a purist, so as far as I’m concerned, apple, strawberry, and raspberry are all non-Newtonian fluids.
If it’s not fig, it has no business being called a Newton!
jenny
Dang, you’re a good teacher. My class is two years older than yours, and I count it a good week if no one has crawled under the table or fallen asleep or been strangled by me at the end of the hour! I’m having a hard time reconciling my irritable, impatient, most un-Christlike thoughts with the New Testament lessons we’ve been assigned.
I seemed to do much better with last year’s Old Testament and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Noah and the Great Flood, and Moses smashing the Ten Commandments in a fit of extreme “I can’t leave you kids alone for a minute!”
brent
It is a catchy song (the wise man … etc) Last week we had a Nor’easter here in Maine that did a real number of the coast. A number of large old houses on the beach were badly damaged and will have to be demolished. As we watched the news report of the crumbling houses on the SAND DUNES, and the owners considering rebuilding I spontaneously broke into singing the aforementioned ditty. It seemed appropriate.
chronicler
heh. heh, They’ll forget the lesson, but never the time bro. pineapple became a ghost in class! That one they’ll talk about forever. heh, I wish, just wish I could have seen it. Although your descriptive is quite amusing.
2Root
I also teach the 9 year-old primary class. My primary class consists of 9 girls and 2 boys. The estrogen flow ratio to testosterone ratio is way out of whack. The boys are now compelled to ask feeling questions. They may all need therapy after this year. When we discussed building important things on solid foundations we all felt our way through troubled waters. We all did however come to the rational and emotional agreement that solid foundations just feel better. Unless you are in the mood to surf, fly, or swim. Then of course that is a horse of a different color.