Students held on to their seats as science teachers Tom Huffaker and John Savage prepared to fire their homemade flamethrower the morning before school in the Student Center on Jan. 29. A loud gasp filled the room as three feet of flames flashed towards them. After the experiments, English teacher Beth Black led a group discussion with teachers and students about “The Martian” and the relevance of the experiments to the book.

Also this year’s Readmont book, “The Martian” by Andy Weir, was a required reading in Huffaker and Savage’s science classes. Huffaker was the first to come up with the idea of having his Chemistry students read the book because it pertained to curriculum students were learning in their class.

“The book contains fair amounts good accurate science, which I think is good for kids to read,” Savage said.

Savage held discussions about the book in class but only demonstrated the science experiments at the annual Readmont book discussion and the separate event before school.

The demonstration began with a circle discussion about aspects of the book. Teachers and students expressed reactions and general take-aways from the reading. The discussion also focused on the accuracy of the science experiments from the book, and transitioned smoothly into the demonstration part of the meeting. Huffaker and Savage conducted three scientific experiments described in the book and explained how and why they work.

“I’m really excited to see what they are going to do,” sophomore Anders Bjork said as the presentation started.

Their experiments not only included a homemade flamethrower, but gas separations and lighting a hydrogen balloon on fire.  

After the experiments, the session was concluded by further discussion about the book and questions. The group went deeper into analyzing the reading and the feelings of students and teachers on topics involved in the book.

“Exposing kids to science and literature is a really good thing,” Savage said.

Savage said that the book allows students to make connections between chemistry in an abstract sense and how it applies to real life.

Huffaker said that they plan to read the book next year in science classes and hopefully conduct the experiments and discussions within individual classrooms instead of a separate presentation before school.