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Getting Their Hands on Science
| Article
# : |
19096 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1991 |
2,401 Words |
| Author
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Anne S. Crosman
A contributing editor of Washington Dossier, Anne S. Crosman
teaches Hands-On Science in Rockville, Maryland. |
The classroom is electric. Ten children are blowing earnestly through flexistraws, trying to keep little Styrofoam balls aloft. Their science lesson is about air pressure.
"Hey! You know what else you can do?" cries pink-faced Michael Noona. "You can suck into the straw, and that keeps the ball stuck to it. Then you can blow it up easier."
His classmates immediately follow suit, fascinated with newfound control over their balls. "Look at mine, it's dancing!" "Look how high I can blow!" "Mine's flying!" They move around the room like circus performers.
Next they try blowing at the balls through paper cones with cutout bottoms. But the balls barely move. Ilsa Axelrod finds a way around it. "You can put the end of the straw up in the cone, suck in on the ball, and blow it that way." She demonstrates to her wide-eyed neighbors. They imitate her and find new success. No more huffing and puffing. "Hey! This is neat!" says one, bounding across the room to show his teacher. "Cool!" croons another.
It's a performance repeated in several hundred classrooms across the country. The program is Hands-On Science (HOS), a ten-year-old afterschool science course for elementary school children. Last year, 20,000 children took classes at more than fifty locations throughout the United States. Specially trained teachers conduct three eight-week sessions during the school year at a cost to parents of approximately thirty-two dollars per session. There is also a session during the summer.
Their equipment consists of everyday, inexpensive materials--straws, paper clips, soap, vinegar, clay, and toys--that the children are familiar with. "We use a wooden toy to teach a physics concept," says Barbara Griner, HOS materials developer, "and a spinning top illustrates optical illusion. Panty hose make a sifter for microfossils, and colored cellophane fishes are quick indexes of body heat when held in the children's hands." Best of all, the students can keep everything they make.
Children remember their favorite experiments years after they did them. "I liked it in first grade when we got to make sun pictures," says Lisa Kaness, a fourth grader. "We put our hands on special film paper and held them there, outdoors, and the print came out white on the black paper."
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