A Little More

The belief that science is fun is at the core of Jason Barbour’s approach to life. He loves to incorporate demonstrations in his lectures to engage his students, help them learn the material and give them positive memories of the class. Two of his favorite demonstrations involve a fire extinguisher/skateboard rocket and a bed of nails. 

Barbour also enjoys sharing his love of science with kids. He was the co-creator of Science Night, which is aimed at elementary-aged students and has been hosted at AACC 14 times since 2009, with 130 to 600 guests in attendance. The event features dozens of tables in the Hawk's Nest where guests can see demonstrations and enjoy hands-on activities related to microbiology, physics, anatomy and physiology, chemistry, geology, earth science and more. There is also a science show, which has covered topics like “Magic or Science,” “Science Pranks” and “A Semester of Physics in 60 minutes.” To reach even more students, Barbour worked with colleagues at AACC and partnered with Anne Arundel County Public Schools to create a similar event that is a field trip for fourth graders.   

With his colleague Greg Schrader, professor of biology, Barbour developed and ran a camp called “The Mad Scientist Training Academy” for more than 10 years. This camp was aimed at getting students from kindergarten to fifth grade excited about science and to give them hands-on experience in science.   

Barbour is exploring ways to incorporate a mastery learning approach in his courses. He hopes students will gain a deeper understanding of the material and become better problem solvers by giving them multiple opportunities to learn and demonstrate their understanding. 

Works

• "Uptake of Contaminants by Grasses" – dissertation at University of Virginia
• "Modeling Phase Change Materials with Conduction Transfer Functions for Passive Solar Applications" – thesis at Colorado State University