Through blowing bubbles and other fun projects, Berta Chatman teaches biology and more.

Laughter. Surprise. Joy. Biology.

If you think one of those things is not like the other, the group of little children creating a bubble rain on a Saturday morning at the Marina branch library will change your mind. At first glance it seems like just a fun way to pass the time. Instead, on this particular morning, it is the finale of a course about science.

The event is the recurring Backyard Science with Berta, a free science workshop, where in this case kids learned how to make different types of wands from common household materials and a good bubble recipe. “Adding glycerin to just regular dish soap and water makes a bubble that doesn’t pop as easy,” instructor Berta Chatman says.

For many of the students, the star of the day was a seething cauldron of dry ice. Bubbles that escaped from the open container were large and opaque. When they popped, the bubbles vanished into spooky wisps of smoke. But the challenge of the day was creating a square bubble. Children built cubic wands, submerged them in the bubbling water and carefully blew bubbles. It’s not an easy task to complete – only a quarter of the class achieved the goal.

Through some simple soapy water, children learned fundamentals of chemistry, physics and other disciplines. To demonstrate surface tension, for instance, they wet their hands before touching bubbles; this prevents popping. To show the transition of different elements, they watched dry ice turn into a gas while common ice melts back into liquid water.

Biology with Berta started at the Marina library with Chatman holding one-on-one outdoor lessons. “It just grew and grew to where I’m now doing three different group classes a week,” Chatman says. “I didn’t think it would be this big.” For the library, she created the Backyard Science with Berta series. She still leads Biology with Berta classes and teaches science to homeschooled students three times a week.

Chatman has a degree in evolution and ecology. She grew up in Monterey County and returned to the area planning to be a biologist on a whale watching ship. But Covid-19 changed her plans. She went back to a role that had helped finance her college studies: tutoring and teaching science classes. Chatman decided to launch Biology with Berta because schools were shut down, but kids still needed instruction.

The youth programs offer math and science tutoring, classes and nature hikes. Many of the topics Chatman teaches are college-level, but accessible to younger kids; she says she always wondered why she didn’t learn them as a child.

“I teach kids how to do dichotomous keys, which is just learning how to classify animals,” she explains. “I didn’t even know about dichotomous keys until college, but I have kindergarteners doing it, no problem.”

Another activity she relates to kids is insect taxidermy. Chatman teaches students how to collect insects responsibly, beginning with the rule of securing only one insect of each species. “If I saw a monarch butterfly, I would never collect that because they are an endangered animal,” she adds.

Every semester, Chatman changes the curriculum. Last semester the focus was biology. Kids learned about oceanography and the life cycle of plants, from seedling to decomposition – which starts the next cycle by helping other plants to grow. Next semester, physics will be the focus.

Chatman says some people learn by reading, but others need to experience it: “Whenever I’m talking about something, I like to be doing it, as well.”

Kristen Economidis brought her daughters Sophie, Eva and Mia, ages 14, 11 and 5 respectively, to the spooky bubble workshop. Her eldest assisted Chatman during the workshop. Economidis says the workshop explains science in a fun, simple way.

“It helps the kids to have a desire to learn more without really feeling like they’re in the school element,” Economidis says. Her kids have asked to participate again in the future.

To learn more about Backyard Science with Berta and Biology with Berta call 261-3532 or visit biologywithberta.com.