WIZ KID

WHAT KIND OF WIZARDRY IS THIS?

The kind designed to hook kids on the science of food, water, and health – fields central to the CSU Spur campus in Denver – and to help kids replicate fun experiments and hands-on activities at home or school.

Wiz Kid, which debuted in April, is a new educational video series for kids in grades K-12, with special appeal for those in later elementary school and early middle school. The show is a program of CSU Spur and reflects public education offerings at the campus that focuses on science and careers in fields critical to the Earth and its human and animal inhabitants.

The show’s namesake – CSU Spur’s own version of Bill Nye The Science Guy – is played by Angelica Peterson, a digital media specialist for the CSU System. Peterson’s spunky, curious character leads viewers into scientific workings at CSU Spur.

“Science is all around us, and we can use it to answer questions and understand the world and how it works,” Peterson said. “I want to be able to show kids that science is fun, it’s exciting, and it helps us learn why things are the way they are.”

For instance, one episode invites viewers to follow Wiz Kid into the CSU Spur kitchen. Here, she and her audience discover an easy way to make homemade bread – in a resealable storage bag – along with homemade butter and homemade cheese to top it off.

While concocting the snack, Wiz Kid and the kitchen manager at CSU Spur teach viewers that yeast, a key ingredient in bread, is a microscopic fungus. It eats the naturally occurring sugars in flour and converts the compounds into ethanol and carbon dioxide gas, the process known as fermentation. That makes bread rise.

“So, what you’re saying is, ‘The yeast – it’s alive!’” Wiz Kid exclaims, adding, “Who knew science could be so delicious?”