Teachers, parents, and kids go to The Science House - Countertop Chemistry to find recipes for experiments they can do without fancy equipment. The site was designed by Science House, a 16-year-old learning outreach program of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at North Carolina State University. One of the most popular experiments in the collection is also among its oldest. It explains how to make ice cream in two Ziplock bags. Students measure the temperature of the ice in the outer bag, then measure it again after they add salt to the ice. They learn that adding a solute to a solvent lowers the freezing point of the solvent enough to freeze the ingredients in the inner bag, and then they learn the taste of fresh ice cream.

“North Carolina State is a land grant university. Our mission is to work with people to solve problems throughout the state,” says Dr. David Haase, professor of physics and director of The Science House. “Our project is very much in the land grant tradition. We want to do science and math outreach activities with as much sophistication as we do research.”

Haase says that collaborations are essential to Science House’s success. The project has 28 collaborators and supporters, including Imagination Station, a science museum in Wilson, NC. NSDL added ScienceHouse to its collection last week, becoming the 29th collaborator. Haase says that “kids don’t tinker enough” and that Science House will attack the problem with its next web project, “Physics From The Junk Drawer.”