PUPILS GET A HANDLE ON SCIENCE.Byline: Daily News Staff Writer Wearing rubber surgeon's gloves, the four girls poked, prodded and examined the lump of muscle on the table. "This valve goes to this chamber and this valve goes to this chamber," explained Chi-hwei Lin, a molecular biologist with Amgen Inc. The sixth-grade students at Walnut Elementary School elementary school: see school. crowded around the scientist, touching the yellow fat deposit on the sheep's heart and rubbing the muscle tissue. "The fat was a lot harder than we thought it would be," said 11-year-old Lauren Crosier crosier bishop’s staff signifying his ruling power. [Christian Symbolism: Appleton, 21] See : Authority . "It was like a bone." Lauren and her classmates Classmates can refer to either:
This is the third year Walnut has participated in the SEED program, a cooperative effort between the Conejo Valley Unified School District Conejo Valley Unified School District or CVUSD is a school district in Ventura County. It serves Thousand Oaks, California and its subsections Newbury Park and Westlake Village. , local biotech company Amgen Inc., Caltech in Pasadena and scientists from Rockwell and Geo-Labs. "Everything is hands-on. In a traditional textbook approach, students read information and answer questions at the end of the chapter. But this, they put their hands on everything," said Ann Balfour, SEED coordinator for the local program. Barbara Ryan Barbara Ryan is a fictional character in an American soap opera, a resident of Oakdale in As the World Turns. In the early 1970s, Barbara was played by a succession of short-lived actresses, but the actress most associated with the role is Colleen Zenk Pinter, who has , director of elementary education elementary education or primary education Traditionally, the first stage of formal education, beginning at age 5–7 and ending at age 11–13. for the Conejo school district, said SEED was started 10 years ago in Pasadena as a joint venture between local schools and California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. . Caltech approached Amgen three years ago about sponsoring a similar public-private partnership Public-private partnership (PPP) describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. These schemes are sometimes referred to as PPP or P3. in the Conejo Valley. "They were interested in seeing if the model would transfer to another district," Ryan said. "We have adapted the Pasadena model to our needs. For two years, Amgen has paid for a full-time science teacher at Walnut. By the end of last year, we had interest from other schools." So Balfour traded in her teaching role to become a full-time coordinator and trainer for other Newbury Park schools interested in SEED. This year, Banyan, Cypress, Manzanita manzanita: see bearberry. and Maple joined SEED, and Ladera is making use of many of the teaching materials. "Teachers do not get a kit until they go through the training," Balfour said. More than 70 teachers attended workshops in which they participated in every experiment and project they are teaching this year to their students. In Jean Beaman's sixth-grade class at Walnut, the students comparing sheep hearts to human hearts had been studying the human circulatory system circulatory system, group of organs that transport blood and the substances it carries to and from all parts of the body. The circulatory system can be considered as composed of two parts: the systemic circulation, which serves the body as a whole except for the all week. The day before examining the hearts, Alisa said, the students had tried to transfer three liters of water from one container to another in fewer than 45 seconds - the amount of time it takes the human heart to move a similar amount of blood through the body. "It was pretty hard to do. Only a couple of people were fast enough," Alisa said. Balfour said the experiment is a perfect example of SEED's focus - to teach science through real-life experience. She said SEED also teaches students to use the scientific process: Observing, communicating, comparing, ordering, categorizing, relating, inferring and applying. The students approve. "It's more interesting," said Amanda. "It's better because they can explain it better." Principal Brad Baker, who was helping a sixth-grade class next door at Walnut use multimedia programs to study the heart, said SEED brings together several educational tools designed to help children develop an early interest in science. A CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). computer program allows students to browse the human body with a click of the mouse. "It's more of a visual and audio tool. They need that visual stimuli first, then they retain the lecture information," Baker said. Erin Everton, a bacterial researcher for Amgen, said she's participated as one of 35 scientists in the SEED program since its inception. "It's fun to come play with the kids. It's nice to see the kids excited about learning," Everton said. Ryan said that's the whole purpose. "We want to see students want to become scientists," she said. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (Color) Sixth-graders at Walnut Elementary School study a sheep's heart as part of a Caltech science program. R.A. Hutchinson |
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