Pontiac Silverdome Implosion: A Teachable Legends of Learning Moment

A once great and mighty edifice is about to be destroyed by forces beyond its control: the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan will be imploded.

Growing up in the Wolverine State, the Silverdome was legendary. The Lions played there; Madonna sang there; and the Pope blessed people there. Its hard to believe its outdated. I guess we are all getting older.

Seventh grade middle school science teacher Todd Bloch in Warren, Mich., shared his thoughts about how this controlled demolition is actually a great opportunity to reach students and engage them.

Here is what he wrote:

Mr. Bloch, did you hear they are imploding the Silverdome this weekend? A student asked at the start of advisory today. Yes, I heard it on the news .

Whats the Silverdome? another student piped in.

Since Ford Field opened in 2002 the Pontiac Silverdome has become a forgot relic wasting away in the elements. My students werent born the last time a significant event occurred there. I quickly shared how I attended Lions and Pistons games an the occasional concert at the Silverdome while I was in college, pulling up pictures of the stadium for them all to see.

Man it would be cool to see it BLOWN AWAY! I was quickly reminded of how middle school students love explosions. I quickly responded, What science could we discuss?

You realize the matter is not destroyed, just changed into something else.

What?

Matter doesnt disappear it just changes. I puzzled look over came the 7th graders face just as the bell rang for him to move on to his next class.

Middle school students love science, they just dont quite understand all of it yet. Implosions look like explosions, not many kids care to know the difference. When something implodes or explodes all they cares is what was once there is now gone. But where did it go? Energy transforms matter into something else, dust and debris, that has the exact same mass as the original structure. Students have a difficult time understanding this.

To help my student understand the law of conservation of mass and energy transformations I plan to use a new website, Legends of Learning , where the science is brought to life through games. To help my inquiring students better understand the implosion of the Pontiac Silverdome there is the game Energy Lab that shows students how energy flows in the chemical reactions used to implode the structure. Students are engaged while playing the learning games. Potential Match can be used to explain how the potential energy is changed to kinetic energy and back during the implosion.

Students love seeing science in actions rather than reading about it in a book or seeing it in a video. Video games help science come alive and be interactive, like those teachable moments we find in life.

I plan on getting my 13-year-old son up early on Sunday to drive down M-59 and watch the dome go down all in the name of science.

Dont miss all the teachable moments that occur in your community where science is always in action!