Children’s author Lynn Brunelle brings the classroom home in ‘Pop Bottle Science.’
Lynn Brunelle’s eyes light up as she tells of a demonstration of density “layer cake” – an experiment that teaches buoyancy and liquid density by layering oil, water and rubbing alcohol in a bottle – gone awry.
“I was telling the students it is all about questions in science, that it is about exploring and finding out information,” Brunelle said.
Then she poured the rubbing alcohol too quickly and it broke through the layer of oil, mixing with the water.
“I laughed and told them, ‘here is an example,’” she said. “Sometimes experiments don’t work out the way you think, but there is always something new to learn.”
The experiment is just one of 79 included in her 2004 children’s book, “Pop Bottle Science.” Brunelle will give a demonstration of several experiments from her book at 11 a.m Saturday at Eagle Harbor Books.
The book covers physical and life sciences, with instructions that teach children how to grow their own mold, produce carbonation to make raisins dance, and adjust a soda bottle so it flies straight using Bernoulli’s Principle.
Since each experiment requires a plastic container, “Pop Bottle Science” is packaged in its own bottle, and also includes balloons, measuring spoons, a small plastic beaker, and a cork, all of which are needed to perform experiments. The book suggests adult supervision for about half of the experiments.
“Kids are so smart,” Brunelle said. “I like the idea of children bringing science anywhere and using their hands and heads to learn. Science is about exploring and asking why.”
Brunelle, 43, is no stranger to teaching kids to explore. A triple major in biology, English and art history at Colby College in Maine, she began her 20-year career in education while working on a second degree in fine arts.
Teaching part-time to support herself financially, she was assigned to a class of disruptive children who had been kicked out of other classes.
“The children were all smart, they just did not learn like the other kids,” she said. “I had to think outside the box and figure out alternative methods to teach them.”
She even convinced a friend to come to a class dress up as Zeus, and had the children act out some of the more tame myths they were learning.
It was a move to New York as an editor at Scientific American Books for Children, that first inspired her to try her hand at writing for young readers.
“Scientific American would have leading, academic scientists writing books for children. We would get 300-page explanations of the Big Bang Theory when we wanted a 30-page book,” she said. “I used my teaching experience and did some ghostwriting to make the books fun and not such a turnoff.”
Her experiences helped her make the move to a “dream job”, writing for the television show “Bill Nye the Science Guy.” Brunelle spent two years as the show’s primary writer and won four Emmy Awards during her tenure.
Since production of the show stopped in 1999, Brunelle has worked as a freelance writer, composing more than 40 children’s books, most of which are designed for the classroom.
With “Pop Bottle Science” and several other recent projects, she hopes to bring education outside of the classroom.
“I want people to be using my books to learn for fun,” she said. “I love the idea of igniting a passion in kids and adults.”
Although Pop Bottle Science is recommended for children 8-12, Brunelle has used the book to teach her children, Kai, 4, and Leo, 2.
But, “not inside the house anymore”, she said.
Between working on books, planning a PBS television show in conjunction with Art Wolfe, a world-renowned artist and photographer, and raising her children with her husband, Keith Uyekawa, Brunelle is busy.
But she remains dedicated to alternative ways of teaching and is enjoying igniting a passion for science in her own children.
“It is all about family, opening the senses, getting unplugged and looking at this world,” she said. “These days we are so urban we don’t look out and enjoy exploring the world enough.”
