Making science the star

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by matthew hansen

For a fleeting moment, Christine DeVries made physics a teen idol Wednesday afternoon.

The moment came when someone asked a question about perpetual motion that Sarah Gergen, a Lefler Middle School eighth-grade science teacher, wasn't quite sure how to answer. Gergen looked to the physical chemistry graduate student sitting at the back of the room. Twenty eighth-grade heads swiveled accordingly.

DeVries wasn't about to let this opportunity slip.

"Second law of thermodynamics, people!" she yelled. Then she jumped out of her seat to explain, turning blank stares into nodding heads in less than a minute.

Project Fulcrum, a federally funded collaboration between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and 10 Lincoln Public elementary and middle schools, aims to do what DeVries and Gergen did Wednesday afternoon - make science the star.

The 3-year-old project emphasizes the sort of hands-on science disappearing from classrooms nationwide because of tight budgets and slimmed curriculums.

It allows UNL to lend a static electricity generator, a life-size human skeleton named Harvey and even a dead porcupine to middle school teachers trying to engage their students.

And it places the university'sgraduate students in LPS classrooms, allowing both kids and teachers the luxury of tapping into the brainpower of someone who's spent ample time studying things such as the second law of thermodynamics.

Have a question about science, kids?Ask the scientist.

"I blow stuff up," DeVries said. "Kids dig it. - Then they start with the questions."

The program, funded by a $1.97 million National Science Foundation grant, will run at least through 2009 and, it is hoped, longer, says Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, a UNL physics professor and one of Fulcrum's founders.

This year, the program touches 2,300 students in two elementary schools and eight middle schools citywide, she said. Graduate students in math, science and engineering spend eight hours a week in classrooms trying to get kids excited about science.

Generating excitement isn't hard, said LPS teachers, UNL professors and graduate students.

The combination of a teacher passionate about teaching and a graduate student passionate about science leaves students impressed, Leslie-Pelecky said.

The graduate students command the students' respect, said Dianna Keefer-Knight, an Irving Middle School sixth-grade teacher. That respect allows them to talk about the digestive system without students collapsing in laughter and take on complex topics without the students becoming quickly bored, she said.

Topics such as, "How do my muscles work?"and "What makes a star so bright?" also stoke the curiosity of already questioning pre-teens.

In Gergen's class, questions come so fast and furious that the teacher is using her "Question Box"like never before.

When students have a question that veers off topic, they write it down and stuff it in the box.

DeVries and Gergen answer some of the questions later.

With other questions, such as "Can humans spontaneously combust?" they challenge students to answer on their own.

Teaching students to question the world around them is one of Project Fulcrum's biggest goals, said Gayle Buck, a UNL education professor.

"Science should celebrate the questions as much as the answers," Buck said.

"We're trying to teach authentic science, which is about the process as much as the answer,"she said.

On Wednesday, the Lefler eighth-graders took their best shot at authentic science.

They spread out on the floor and into the hallway, studying velocity and momentum by crashing cars of various weights into each other.

They asked Gergen and each other questions about why the speed of the cars mattered and whether they should affix the weight to the cars.

DeVries circled the room, trading barbs with the eighth-graders and dispelling the myth that scientists are "Einstein-looking guys with thick glasses,"said Keefer-Knight, the Irving sixth-grade teacher.

And everyone had fun, according to eighth-grader Lucas Thomas.

"It is fun," he said. "It's better than doing a packet or watching a video."

Reach Matthew Hansen at 473-7245 or mhansen@;journalstar.com.