BILLINGS — Montana State University Billings Atomic Circus came to Billings Skyview High School on Friday with a bang.
For eight years, MSU Billings science professors Dr. Matt Queen and Dr. Dan Willems have put on the live chemistry demonstration show for fifth graders across eastern Montana, but now they have expanded and upgraded the show for high school students.
The show combines chemistry with art and includes a live band, dancers, and actors to tell a science-related story. Friday's performance for Skyview focused on the scientific method.
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“We brought a little bit more complexity to the things that we were trying to teach," said Queen. "Our job as chemistry professors is to tell this narrative, this story of how science was built up and the pieces and the human knowledge that we know that have become paradigms that allow us to make predictions about things.”
Skyview students got to watch the four performances and partake in them. With the assistance of Skyview science teacher Jehremy Felig, several students practiced with the professors for over a month to write and compose the show.
“My role was to be the novice. I was essentially just some dude who was walking in with pretty much no experience in the science field, and I would be able to learn things along the way," said senior Samuel Tulimaiau.
The performance, which also included some original music composed by senior Blayze Mockel, aimed to make science feel accessible and exciting. The music provided the perfect soundtrack to the show’s scientific demonstrations and dance numbers.
“That was an entirely me decision. I started by just writing chord progressions, like really popular chord progressions you'll find in like The Beatles or any song from the 1900s," said Mockel. “I just wrote those out with inversions, wrote out the chords for everyone in the band and printed it out, and gave it to everyone."
While the show was scripted, much of it was also improvised, much like the trial-and-error nature of scientific experiments. If something went wrong, the performers adjusted and moved forward.
“That's something I like about acting is that the script can go completely off the rails, and it can still end up working, just as long as the people up there know what they're doing," said Tulimaiau. "You just got to live with it and just readjust immediately."
“I just think this is a really fun performance in general, and I'm really happy to be a part of it. I think everyone in the band is as well," added Mockel.
Beyond the explosions, the Atomic Circus has a deeper purpose. It is funded through the Science Educational Partnership Award, a grant through the National Institute of Health that aims to encourage young students to pursue careers in STEM fields.
“The fifth-grade show really leans into the whole college experience, like we wanted to bring students up onto campus to show them that college isn't a place where you come if you know the answers. It's like a place to figure it out," said Queen. “We're going to explore this idea of bringing the high schools in. We're actually trying to renew our SEPA grant right now with NIH and so (we're) looking at what the project can build out into."
That message hit home for Tulimaiau, who will be studying chemistry and biology at MSU Billings this fall due to his early exposure to the program.
“I actually saw the first atomic circus in my fifth-grade year, and it got me excited to go to college and learn all the science stuff," said Tulimaiau. “I actually really do enjoy science because it's just fun overall. You get to train your brain to get to do experiments and just test things out."
For Queen, the value of the Atomic Circus extends beyond just creating a fun experience, but about preparing young people to be informed, critical thinkers in the world.
“It really just comes down to being an informed person out there in the world that can look at data and interpret it using these sort of models of how the world works. I think that's the important part," said Queen.
The Atomic Circus will perform two free shows for the public on April 26 in the Petro Theatre. For more information, click here.
