Making Ice Cream the Modern Way

Abstract

During weekends and summer months, many colleges and museums either lease out their classrooms and laboratories for enrichment programs or run their own programs. The program involved in this case was at a New Jersey university that had been running such a program for many years. This year’s summer session had been going on for several days. The concept was to make science fun. When I heard about the experiment that led to the call to the poison center, I remembered as a child watching the television show Mr. Wizard. In that show Don Herbert, the “wizard,” exposed his viewers to science in a totally painless, educational, and fun way. The show was somewhat formulaic, but that was the standard for that era; a neighbor, his assistant for that show, would come over to see Mr. Wizard and they would then embark on an exploration of some scientific phenomenon. While many children were entertained by Howdy Doody and the Lone Ranger, many of us became fascinated with the prospect of doing scientific experiments at home, following the directions of Mr. Wizard and his assistant. The amazing thing about the original show, which ran from 1951 through 1965, was the ability to make the most mundane experiments look like fun and to titillate the minds of the watchers to go further and learn more about the subjects presented.