Science Comes Alive on Discovery Day

Molecular biologists and second-graders may seem an unlikely combination, but at Loveland Elementary School in Loveland, Ohio, bringing scientists into the classroom proved to be a big success. The event, Discovery Day, brought together experts from the community and first- through fourth-graders for a day of presentations and experiments.

Students made “space food” with gas and marshmallows. Presenters set a balloon on fire as part of a study of the states of matter. Students interacted with reptiles from a local reptile recovery unit—although organizers couldn’t find any parent volunteers for that activity.

At the all-day event, held April 19, students each saw nine presentations tailored for their grade level. A total of 54 demonstrations were offered. More than 1,200 students took part, including first- and second-graders from Loveland Primary School and third- and fourth-graders from Loveland Elementary School.

And according to Linda Sand, Loveland parent and creator of the event, not only did the students have a great time, but the only expense incurred was providing lunch. All presenters volunteered their time, as did more than 75 parent volunteers. Parents were paired with presenters as assistants.

To organize an event of this size, Sand and Chris Thiel, PTA vice president at Loveland Primary School, began by sending notes home with students asking for parents who would present. From there they went into the community to recruit scientists from local businesses and professional organizations. Sand invited teachers, pharmacists, geneticists, and nurses, as well as a marketing director of a local medical company, airline pilots, and physicists from a nearby business, International Paper.

“Most of my contacts were cold calls,” she says. “I hunted on the Internet for various scientific groups in the area and started e-mailing. I did contact the local American Chemical Society and Sigma Xi (biological society) and a group of retired engineers.”

A stay-at-home mom, Sand spent the better part of four months planning the event, and she had the advantage of having done this before. This was the second Discovery Day at Loveland. Sand, who organized both events, says she got most of the mistakes out of the way in her first year, making this year a breeze. The first Discovery Day included only the second-grade class. As Sand’s son progressed to the third grade and she planned to move the event to the elementary school, the principal of the primary school asked her to organize something for both schools because the students had enjoyed the event so much.

The year she proposed the event, Sand had recently moved to the Cincinnati area and didn’t have much of a local network. Some of the programs were too advanced for the kids. This past school year she was much more selective about who presented, spent more time looking for the right people, and spent more time talking to them to make sure their information was understandable. She had to decline a few offers from presenters whose material was too complicated and could not be scaled down appropriately.

Sand says her science background made the event easier on both herself and the presenters. She holds a degree in microbiology and has worked as a geneticist and engineer. As a result, she was quickly able to understand the basics of each presentation and its required equipment to determine whether it would be appropriate for students in any of the four grades.

Sand talked to teachers to get an idea of what students were being taught, but mainly the event “was just aimed at letting them experience different aspects of science, to get turned on to science.”

Sand also had support from the superintendent, who turned out with some board members to tour the exhibits. “Most parents who participated didn’t have a science background,” Sand says. “A lot of them got so excited that they wanted to tour, as well.”

The presenters enjoyed the day, too. Some were part of the Loveland community. Others came from as far as 100 miles away. Most were older with no children in school and enjoyed connecting with the kids, says Sand. “We had a geneticist from Children’s Hospital who had so much fun the first year he came back again.”

Retired electrical engineer Lee Hite came to teach students about lightning safety, with a “live” lightning demonstration. “I can think of no better way to give back to society than to provide some science education and improved safety behavior for kids,” Hite says. “As an engineer, I never spent time in the classroom, and I find it a real thrill to be with school kids. I can give a technical lecture to engineers and seldom be asked a question for which I don’t know the answer. However, with kids, it never ceases to amaze me that they can ask a question that will stop you dead in your tracks. I love their perception and their enthusiasm. This is a subject they really enjoy, and they pay attention for quite some time.”

This type of event need not be limited to science. Sand brought the idea to Loveland from her son’s previous school in Tennessee, where she designed a similar program about why quality is important.

In that small town she had grocers with mushy vegetables talking about produce quality and a dentist talking about the quality of his work and taking care of your teeth. “Use the resources in your community,” Sand says.

As Sand moves on with her son to the fifth grade and a new school, she is planning to bring some of the presenters back for more in-depth, content-specific programs.

Her suggestion to others doing this type of event: “Start small and scale up next year.”

Suggestions for Getting Started

Do start small.
You don’t have to create a project on the scale of Loveland Elementary’s, and the first time out, you shouldn’t try unless you have a lot of resources and experience running large events.

Do use hands-on presentations.
“Many of the projects had lots of bells and whistles, which really appealed to the kids, and hands-on programs were better received than lectures,” says Sand.

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Don’t be afraid to make sure content is appropriate.
It’s nice to have volunteer presenters, but don’t be shy about quizzing them about content. After all, the point is for kids to understand and enjoy it.

Don’t be restricted by curriculum. Be creative.
It’s nice to have programs that support the curriculum, but don’t be limited, says Sand. “The goal for what we did was to introduce all different aspects of science to the kids.”