THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SCIENCE
Call it a grand experiment: get kids hooked early on science, and you may have their interest for life. By MELINDA MULLEN.
Ever thrill to a close encounter with a cricket, or marvel at how planes stay in the air? Were you one of those fourth-graders who eagerly asked the teacher, “Does sound travel faster than light?”
If not, you may be the victim of “science turn-off.” That’s what happens to many young students who might otherwise retain their curiosity about how the world works into middle and high school—and throughout life.
“Young students are inherent scientists,” said Susan V. Olesik, professor of analytical chemistry. “They just need experiments to do.
“We can move them to a deep interest in science at a young age and keep them going. Studies have shown that girls, especially, who decide against careers in science usually do so in middle school.”
Unless, that is, someone gets them excited about science early on. That’s the goal of Olesik’s pioneering program at Ohio State, Wonders of Our World.
The W.O.W. concept is simple: invite scientists into elementary and middle schools to demonstrate experiments and train science teachers.
To be accepted into the program, schools must commit to a three-year involvement. At monthly workshops, teachers learn to conduct hands-on experiments that coincide with basic science concepts, such as chemical reactions and laws of motion. W.O.W. provides materials and equipment, which remain with the schools.
Olesik says teacher training is the key to the program. “If we can excite the teachers and get them trained in science, we’ve had an impact on more than just the generation of students attending when we’re there.”
Olesik hit upon the idea while visiting her daughter’s second-grade class. “It was amazing how many of these kids really didn’t understand how to do subtraction,” she said. It was also obvious that there was a need for greater emphasis on science.
“The teacher simply was not comfortable with the subject,” Olesik said. “We’ve since learned that it’s a common problem. Many teacher education programs have very minimal science course requirements.”
At about the same time, Olesik noticed that one of her freshman chemistry students at Ohio State didn’t understand basic algebra, a fundamental part of balancing chemical equations.
“I had a revelation. I realized that I couldn’t fix that kind of a problem at the freshman level of college. It needed to be fixed at a much earlier level,” she said.
Olesik went to her daughter’s principal with a proposal: let’s get scientists to bring in experiments that would help the kids practice their math. The program grew from there.
W.O.W. was launched at one Columbus elementary school in 1999 with 10 volunteers. It now has more than 500, including Ohio State faculty members who developed more than a hundred experiments and demonstrate them at teacher workshops.
Trained Ohio State students conduct the classroom experiments, along with local scientists from businesses including American Electric Power, Battelle, Ashland Chemical, Roxane Laboratories, and the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Abstracts Service.
“Most scientists like to share their enthusiasm with others,” Olesik said, “so they’re often interested in contributing. It usually takes only a couple of hours at the schools, plus a one-hour training session.”
One popular experiment teaches Bernoulli’s principle of velocity versus pressure. Students make airplanes from Styrofoam meat trays, then add paper clips or other objects to determine their effect on the height and distance the planes can achieve or the tricks they can do.
Another kid-pleaser is the cricket races. Students note how the insects’ weight affects how far they can jump. Then they compare that information to students’ own jumping ranges. (They learn that pound-for-pound, crickets are better jumpers.)
“The teachers were apprehensive at first, seeing cages of 30 or 40 crickets coming into the classroom,” Olesik said. “But in addition to the jumping experiment, the students learn anatomy and how to feed and take care of the crickets.”
W.O.W. is seeing dramatic results, and attracting national and international attention. The program’s experiments are correlated with state test standards. Olesik reports that science scores in W.O.W. schools always increase, some by as much as 300 percent. “After three years, they look like magnet schools,” she said.
The program is now in 15 elementary schools and has recently expanded into a local middle school and Metro High School, a cooperative venture of Battelle and Ohio State.
Last year, W.O.W. launched its first extension site near Muskingum College in New Concord. A Denver school will be the first non-Ohio site. Groups from Malaysia and Singapore have expressed interest, and Japan’s national education director visited Ohio State to see the program in action. The W.O.W. Web site gets 150,000 hits a year from teachers here and abroad.
W.O.W. has also wowed the Alumni Association, which selected Olesik to receive this year’s Dan L. Heinlen Award for advocating the university’s interests to the public. But Olesik’s greatest satisfaction comes from knowing the program is generating enthusiasm about science in so many youngsters. And who knows which of them may be the next Louis Leakey or Marie Curie?
Learn more:
wow.osu.edu
This article appeared in the January/February 2007 issue of Ohio State Alumni Magazine. The magazine is a benefit of membership in the Alumni Association. Learn more about the benefits of membership and how you can make Ohio State stronger at membership services, or call 1-800-762-JOIN.
