Science Through Creativity
Watch students bring scientific concepts to life through dance, drama, and visual storytelling
Featured Videos
Our most impactful student productions
Period Table: The Elements Dance
Performed by low-income and homeless middle school students from Stairway of the Stars Dance Studio in Maywood, Il.
Zafra Lerman, the head of the Science Institute, along with several faculty members, taught science to students through dance. Heidi Baumann Renteria, the students' dance teacher, was also a former student of the Science Institute. As a result of this colaboration, many of the dancers pursued higher education, with one even obtaining a PhD in biochemistry.
Our hero falls in love with Solid, but "When she warms to him, through his fingers she runs," and when his love heats up with Liquid, "Her love escaped from him just like a vapor."
The Bondfather
A drama written, acted, and filmed by Columbia College theatre students from Professor Zafra Lerman's class.
Following the storyline and music from the "Godfather" movie, a distraught mother beseeches Don Mendeleev (The Bondfather) for his help, explaining that her daughter, Chlorina, has fallen in love with Sodium and that, together, they have formed a crystal: ordinary table salt. She says the chemists explained that it was just a matter of time before they were "sprinkled on someone's French fries or dissolved in water." She would instead prefer her daughter to have the same relationship as she has with her husband: a covalent bond -- they share electrons, and it is a strong relationship that cannot be easily broken.
Love Story: Sodium & Chlorine
A drama written, acted, and filmed by Columbia College theatre students from Professor Zafra Lerman's class.
A mock Shakespearean tragedy ala Romeo and Juliet, with apologies to W. Shakespeare ("For never was a story more dark and glum, than that of Chlorine and her Sodium"). The students cast Sodium in the role of Romeo and Chlorine as Juliet. They become a couple (bonded) by Sodium giving his extra electron to Chlorine through a kiss, making her his "sweetest wife" and forming salt. The students wanted to follow Shakespeare's tragedy. Thus, Mendeleev enters the scene and orders the couple to go into the water, which breaks their bond/marriage. The dramatic presentation ends with all actors holding placards stating, "Learn to take every tragedy with a grain of ...SALT," with the couple appearing one final time together behind the word "SALT." The students who wrote and performed this play reported that they recalled this subject stronger than any other because they internalized it when writing and acting.
More Student Projects
Explore the creative work of our students
Little Boy
Student Project by Todd Ripplinger
The Amazing Story of Becquerel's Strange Discovery
2002 Student Project by Ariel Goldenberg & Omid Keshtkar
Stratosphere Wars: Chlorine Strikes Back
1999 Student Project by Marcus Jones
Ionic Bondage
1999 Student Project by Joe Nelson.
The Astounding Madame Curie Chronicles
2003 Student Project by Todd Ripplinger, Omid Keshtkar, Mark Phillips & Ariel Goldenberg
Plenty Of Ozone
1995 Student Project
The CFCs (A Band) - A Short History
1993 Student Project by Greg Janssen
James Bond: Operation Neutrality
1999 Student Project by Ray Bieniasz & Mike Schraut
All videos were produced by students from Professor Lerman's class at the Science Institute, Columbia College Chicago