‘Dr. Bones’ shows science isn’t stuffy
By Chris Donahue
Staff Writer
To some students, subjects such as biology, chemistry and physics are about as pleasant as having to eat their least favorite vegetable for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
To help make those subjects more palatable, The Dr. Bones Science Demonstration Show provides students with simple, hands-on experiments to illustrate how gravity and velocity affect their daily lives.
For more than an hour, Dr. Bones used dozens of props, quips and a little religious education to explain things such as gravity, forces, energy, air pressure and the history of science to students in grades five through eight Oct. 11 in St. Elizabeth School, Bernardsville.
Also known as Bergen County Community College professor Dr. Don Mueller, Dr. Bones was invited to the St. Elizabeth School by Maria Carr, Home School Association assembly
coordinator.
“He makes it fun,” Carr said. “The hands-on assemblies always work better for the kids as opposed to just sitting and listening. They can actually be a part of the show and on a level where they can understand what’s being communicated.”
Dr. Bones showed how an airplane takes off and stays aloft by explaining how thrust is force forward and drag is force against it. With a toy helicopter, he showed how the spinning rotors produce lower pressure on the top and higher on bottom, which produces lift.
Science, Dr. Bones told the assembly, is not magic because science wants you to know the truth about things. But although scientists know a lot of about how and why things behave the way they do, or where they come from, they do not have all the answers.
Science and God are compatible, he said. Using the example of the Big Bang Theory, which describes how the universe was created, he said the theory does not explain how the matter that created the Big Bang was formed.
“Who made the stuff to start it? God did. The point is, we don’t need to separate science and religion,” said Dr. Bones.
He also urged the students to always remain curious. “Science is for everyone. A couple hundred years ago, there were a lot of amateur scientists who gained knowledge we’re still using today,” he said.
Dr. Bones also added health tips to his presentation. During an experiment on lung capacity, he said about the many dangers of cigarettes, “Athletics increases it, smoking decreases it.”
At the end of the show, all the students were allowed to punch Mr. Cigarette, a large balloon that included smoke-stained teeth.
Regina Yorkgitis, 12, a seventh-grader in St. Elizabeth School and a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Bernardsville, said she enjoyed the show because everyone got an opportunity to participate.
Dr. Bones received a doctorate in chemical physics at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and has done postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences in Taipei, Taiwan.
He is also a science and health writer, having been published in newspapers and business journals. He writes the Doctor Bones Science Column for Kids, which he features on his Website: www.drbonesshow.com.
The Science Demonstrations Show is also intended to be a continuing resource for science teachers. The science teaching techniques and demonstrations introduced in the show are made available for duplication by teachers on his Website www.drbonesshow.com.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law