How Slime Brings Science and STEM to the Library

Mrs. Dabney, Pasadena Texas High School Librarian, Helps Her Students Learn about Slime!

“Libraries aren’t just for reading anymore,” writes Mrs. Dabney, a high school librarian in Pasadena, TX. “Today’s libraries have books, technology, games, and maker spaces. We are striving to be the best library we can be in the 21st century. Our students lack many experiences due to socio-economic status, and we want to change that.”

She could have chosen a number of projects for her library. Yet of all the possibilities out there, Mrs. Dabney chose to give her students a chance to make slime.

Why slime? Mrs. Dabney explains . . .

“We want to give all students a chance to experience the making of slime, a STEM activity (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) that deals with polymers (white glue & liquid starch) and Newtonian fluids (water), and how they bond together to become a non-Newtonian fluid (slime). Students will learn about viscosity, and how it relates to slime, as well as shear thickening and shear thinning. We are bringing science and STEM to the library.”

Mrs. Dabney decided to seek funding for her project on DonorsChoose.org. She needed 12 gallons of Elmer’s School Glue, 12 bottles of Purex Concentrated Liquid Starch, some plastic bags to mix the slime in . . . and some food coloring to make the students’ slime colorful and interesting. The total cost of her project was $878.00. And now, thanks to donations from Chevron and the Student Research Foundation, her project is fully funded, and her students are enjoying learning about slime.

Mrs. Dabney Writes . . .

Dear Student Research Foundation,

Thank you again for your generous funding of our slime project. It was exciting to see the students working together in groups, sharing knowledge and stories of when they have made slime outside of school. We reviewed the states of matter and talked about non-newtonian fluids. Our students really enjoyed the process of creating the slime as it was different than the kinds they made at home. Playing with the slime was probably the best part of the whole project, and we still have kids talking about the activity and asking if they can make more. So thank you again for making this experience possible for our students. 

With gratitude,
Mrs. Dabney

We look forward to writing about the success of more DonorsChoose.org teacher projects here on the Student Research Foundation blog. Stay tuned!

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