Improving Science Education in Impoverished Communities

The objective of this service learning project was to introduce three different classes of first grade students in an impoverished community to a new science concept in a fun, interactive way. Science is not heavily taught to elementary aged children attending school in impoverished communities due to lack of resources. The concept that was taught to the students was density through, first, explaining what density is, then demonstrating the concept of density through an oil and water experiment, and finally allowing the students to do the experiment on their own. At the end of the science lesson, the children were asked questions to see how well they grasped the subject. The lesson proved to be a successful, positive experience because the children were engaged while the lesson was being conducted and understood the concept that I was teaching. The service learning project that I conducted exposed elementary aged students to science curriculum so that they can begin problem solving and learning about the world around them at a young age and so that science will not seem so “scary” to them as they grow older