Burping Bags and Dancing Raisins: Tricks for Teaching Science During a Pandemic

Texas science teacher Avri DiPietro has a secret weapon in her tool kit to help keep her students engaged now that the coronavirus pandemic has forced them to stay home indefinitely. It's a home experiment known as 'the burping bag.' The assignment calls for her sixth graders to combine vinegar and baking soda in a plastic bag, either in their kitchens or backyards. If all goes as planned, burps and belches will ring out across the small southeastern Texas town where DiPietro teaches, as the acidic vinegar meets the sodium bicarbonate, releasing gas from the bag. 'My thing has been to get science into their homes and get them doing science... it's about discovery,' said DiPietro, who teaches about 160 students between the ages of 11 and 14 in Lockhart, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Austin. 'This is pushing a lot of us educators in how to reach our kids.'