The student spin casting experiment took two days to complete. Prior to the first day of the experiment, students were split into ten groups of ten students in each. Nine of the groups were sorted based on alphabetical order, and the last group consisted of all the virtual students on Zoom, making the project hybrid in nature with some students researching in the labs themselves while others observed the process online. Each group also had two research experience undergraduates (REUs) who conducted the experiment alongside the high school students. Combined groups 1 and 2, as well as combined groups 5 and 6, served as the controls who worked to confirm the 280k and 35k molecular weight samples of polystyrene, respectively. Then, every other two consecutive groups worked together to obtain the molecular weight of the other polystyrene samples, such as a coffee cup or ramen cup (FIG ).