Vol. 38, No. 18

2-18-2004
By: Randy Gammage

Lima’s Education Outreach develops students into scientists for the day

On a brisk January afternoon, 24 students at Lima North Middle School were warming up to science through “Inquiry, Scientists and the Environment,” an interactive environmental education program offered by Ohio State Lima’s Education Outreach program.

The fifth-grade “scientists” at Lima North had a big decision to make: save the wolves, hawks and other wildlife — or build a new school.

Five teams of students assumed distinct scientific roles as they evaluated whether a hypothetical new school should be built on their land, based on the impact it would have on the ecosystem. They carefully considered data on the endangered species in the area before reaching their decisions.

One team, collectively known as the Farmland Committee, carefully calculated the effect building a school on their farmland would have on the existing Red Shouldered Hawk and Houston Toads in the area. Acting as the spokesperson for the group, student David Sayna presented their findings to the class at the conclusion of the workshop.

“We decided not to build the school because we did not want to harm the ecosystem,” Sayna said.

Objectives for the activity are aligned with the fifth-grade course of study and include air and water pollution, vanishing wildlife, habitat preservation and the interdependence of the ecosystem, said Dawn Wingate, Education Outreach program coordinator.

“They’re learning a lot of things that are on the state proficiency tests and they don’t realize it because it is fun and they enjoy being scientists for the day,” Wingate said.

More than 20 different careers related to environmental sciences are introduced to students, as they become scientists for the day. Authentic lab coats donated by Lima Memorial Hospital and ID badges elevate their enthusiasm as soon as they slip them on.

Inquiry, Scientists and the Environment is part of Ohio State Lima’s Education Outreach initiative, which currently operates six programs that serve youth in the second through 12th grades in a 10-county area. The programs fill a unique niche, as they offer hands-on interactive experiential learning that responds to an identified educational need, said Lynn Sametz, director of Education Outreach for Ohio State Lima.

“This is one of the ways that our campus works to partner with our community to bring quality programs to share our knowledge, and to make sure that knowledge gets across to both teachers and kids,” Sametz said.

Originally funded with a grant from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund (June 2000-2002), Inquiry, Scientists and the Environment also is offered to sixth graders. Locally, Sprint provides scholarship money for classes to participate. During the course of the grant, Sametz said more than 4,400 area students have been reached.

Activities complement state standards in science, social studies, mathematics and language arts.

“The program focuses on environmental science, but also integrates mathematics, science, social studies and language arts as we teach kids that everything we learn about is interrelated,” Sametz said.

As a group of Lima North student scientists examined the environmental data they had been given, a reporter inquired if any entertained thoughts of one day becoming a scientist. Four out of five raised their hands in affirmation.

Sayna, 11, expressed an interest in paleontology and chemistry. His interest in bones and dinosaurs intensified when he viewed the Hollywood blockbuster Jurassic Park for the first time; his interest in chemistry evolved from science class.

“Chemistry is a hard thing to do and I might be able to one day cure a disease,” Sayna said.

The class was having an immediate impact on the students. An environmental biologist for the session, Shayla Russell, 11, said she enjoyed learning about the many different functions scientists perform.

“The way she (Wingate) is teaching it, it really sparks your interest in things you really would not want to be involved in,” Russell said. “I wouldn’t want to mess with wolves or bats, but she’s telling us wolves aren’t bad — you just have to know how to treat them.”

Bats and timber wolves were among the endangered species the group was learning about.

Wingate said the kids learn because they actually have ownership of the workshops, and are encouraged to work as a team to solve real life environmental problems. They then teach what they learned to their classmates.

“The students are actually learning by teaching,” Wingate said. “By working as a group they are learning teamwork, and learning to make decisions, which is a life skill that they will need at age 50 as well as in the fifth grade.”

For more information on OSU Lima Education Outreach programs, visit the Web at www.lima.ohio-state.edu/ and click on Community Outreach, followed by K-12 Education Outreach, or e-mail Sametz at sametz.1@osu.edu.

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