Grade Schoolers REACT Well to Visiting Scientists
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Grade Schoolers REACT Well to Visiting Scientists Three years ago, after taking a job at EG&G as a staff scientist, I met a fellow scientist named Nate Skinner. Nate had been doing chemistry demonstrations in local schools for 17 years, and I saw a chance to get into the classroom by accompanying an experienced presentor. I was terrified on my first classroom visit. Here we were in a class of fourth graders, and I realized that my PhD in chemistry was no match for a simple question like "Why does the water get hot when you add the powder?" (It was CaCl2.) A description of "exothermic reaction" driven by the laws of "thermodynamics" would be about as comprehensible as an answer given in Sanskrit. Also, knowing the "true" explanation for a reaction has nothing to do with how well the experiment goes in a classroom. (Nothing beats practice, practice, practice.) After my fear of embarrassment subsided, we found that two scientists in the classroom worked better than one. We each played off the other's bad jokes, while keeping up the pace of our presentations. As Nate set up the next experiment, I filled the time asking questions and doing the equivalent of adding local color to a sports broadcast. Nate coached me in the presentation of the experiments, and I coached him on how well the kids understood what he was doing. I sometimes felt like a translator; words we commonly use in science are a foreign language to children, especially youth-at-risk children who typically have never known a scientist or engineer. There had always been a high demand for Nate's demonstrations. Teachers usually heard about him through recommendations from other teachers. Teachers were now constantly inviting us into their classrooms. We saw that if two could reach some classes, a whole group of people might reach lots of kids, so REACTS (Rediscovery Educational Activities Create Tomorrow's Scientists) was born. REACTS has a mailing list of about 350 people, with about forty members who donate their time. REACTS is made up of parents, teachers, school administrators, scientists, and engineers. Last year, members of REACTS made presentations to approximately 4,000 children with chemistry and physics activities through "science days," classroom and club demonstrations, and public events like Earth Day. A core of about six demonstrators did most of the presentations, with Nate present for the lion's share. We have learned quite a bit from teachers and parents, and of course from the children. Of the many possible
pitfalls, we have probably stepped in most of them, and have been able to incorporate about half the excellent suggestions we received. Here are some recommendations. Don't wait until you think it is a perfect presentation or idea—get involved and then work out the details. Ask teachers what they need and tell them what you are willing to do. Elementary teachers must cover a large amount of required material, so they have little time left to learn to do new scientific demonstrations themselves. We use two formats for classroom or afte
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