Today we were going to do an experiment in my 2nd grade class. The excitement and anticipation had grown for over a week, and one student in particular was beyond excited for the elephant toothpaste lab.
He r researched on his own over the past week, and as I discovered, our versions of research really differ. He went straight to YouTube and watched every elephant toothpaste video he could find. I read teacher curriculum and found safe experiments kids could complete with household products.
The result was an experiment fail.
I recall the moment he (I had chosen this student to pour in the ingredient that would activate the chemical reaction) poured in the activator, he had a plan to run, because he knew, based on his research, that this would be a massive explosion. …but no explosion occurred, the solution slowly built up pressure and meandered its way from the bottle like toothpaste from a toothpaste tube.
This student was completely crestfallen. I reassured him that he had probably seen the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment. He assured me he hadn’t. To put the whole experiment to bed and move on with class, I showed the Mentos video…and it wasn’t it. I asked if he could tell me the exact YouTube video he had seen, he said Mark Rober.
There it was. A YouTube star, pushing the limits of science to excite and grab viewers. The title of the video he had seen was “World’s Largest Elephant Toothpaste Experiment”…I can’t compete with that. Corporate Sponsors, real chemicals, production staff, and views to rack up. This is what my school budget, time, and constraints is supposed to compete with.
This is not to say cool videos should go away. Cool videos have a place in referencing AFTER we have our small scale try.
Parents, here is an ask. Please do not allow your young child to watch Youtube videos freely. They lack the cognitive understanding of what goes into these videos as far as technical aspects, research, circumstances, safety, and more.