From Super Jelly to Hydrogel: Delivering Hydrogel Chemistry into Middle School Classrooms by Undergraduates as the Bridge between Professors and Students

Hydrogel is an interesting topic in polymer chemistry, which is closely related to daily life and advanced technology. In this paper, we report an activity to deliver hydrogel chemistry into middle school classrooms by undergraduates as a bridge between professors and students. During the activity, undergraduates act as a bridge to receive knowledge from professors, reprocess it, and finally deliver it to middle school students. The activity comprises a 60 min lecture and a 30 min hands-on experiment and aims to provide a deep understanding of hydrogel. The lecture starts from the jelly, a popular snack for students, in order to introduce hydrogels. Then, the various applications of hydrogels are mentioned to indicate why hydrogel materials are interesting and how hydrogel materials help doctors treat various diseases. Moreover, middle school students expand their minds from everyday applications to advanced technologies by engaging in discussions as well as a hands-on experiment. The survey before and after the activity shows it can play an important role in helping middle school students understand hydrogels and sprout their interest in chemistry. The activity has been successfully held in four local middle schools and more sessions are planned to be held in more middle schools in the near future. Undergraduates also deepened their understanding of hydrogel chemistry and sprouted their interest in scientific research in this activity.