BRINGING THE MOUNTAIN TO MOHAMMED

Science in Motion carries modern science into schools

It was the kind of scene every teacher dreams about: A high-school student,
seeing a van filled with science equipment pull up to the campus, ran up to
Eleanor Siegriest excitedly. ``The chem van is here!'' the student cried. ``Are
we going to have the chem van today?'' When Siegriest, a chemistry teacher at
Hollidaysburg Area High School in central Pennsylvania, told the student that
the van was just dropping off equipment, the student persisted. ``But we have to
have it! It's here!''

That a van filled with nuclear radon monitors and spectrophotometers could
inspire the kind of enthusiasm kids usually reserve for the three-o'clock bell
is a glowing testament to the success of a science outreach program run by
Juniata College for the last seven years.

Called ``Science in Motion,'' the program operates two vans in central and
western Pennsylvania that travel to some 50 area high schools to lead workshops
and introduce students to sophisticated instruments that few schools could
afford to own themselves. The vans, each stocked with more than $100,000 worth
of equipment and operated by a teacher who works hand in hand with the classroom
instructor, offer an invaluable supplement to the kind of traditional book
learning that often bores students and teachers alike.

Finding new ways to pump life into science education was the impetus behind the
Science in Motion project, says Don Mitchell, a chemistry professor at Juniata
College and coordinator of the program. Working with high-school teachers,
Mitchell and his colleagues found that they all wanted things for their students
to do as well as updated training for themselves--a need Mitchell recognized
firsthand. ``I visited a lot of high schools, and I discovered that because of a
lack of resources, chemistry teaching hadn't changed. I could almost have been
sitting in the same school I was sitting in thirty-five years ago. But the
practice of chemistry has changed in that time.''

Juniata applied to the National Science Foundation for a grant, and soon a van
filled with state-of-the-art instruments was on the road, setting up labs at a
particular school for a day or dropping off equipment that teachers had learned
to use during summer workshops held at the college. From the beginning it was a
hit; recently, a program to support biology teachers was added.

``For the kids, it's something different,'' says Tom Ferko, who operates the
western Pennsylvania chem van. ``They know it's something they've never seen
before. I tell them that this will get them over the initial shock of using new
equipment in a college chemistry class.''

More important, perhaps, is the lasting effect the program has on some
participants. Ryan Ames, who encountered the chem van as a student at Indian
Valley High School, attributes his decision to study chemistry in college partly
to the van's visits to his school. ``My first experience with the van was as a
sophomore. It sparked my interest in chemistry, and I got interested in doing
research.''

Inspired by the success of Juniata's program, two schools--Purdue University and
Occidental College--have developed similar outreach projects of their own. Many
in the education field believe programs like these are vital for the future,
where an increasingly technology-driven society demands a better-prepared work
force.

``It's the best thing that's happened to science education in a long time,''
says Erma Anderson of the National Science Teacher's Association's Scope
Sequence and Coordination Project. ``It's a blessing to small rural districts
where a big problem is a lack of materials. Bringing the qeuipment to schools
has a lasting impression. It's something students can't get from a textbook.

This hands-on approach is the backbone of the program, says Siegriest, providing
a much-needed overhaul of the way her students learn science. ``Our school had
one pH meter, and I had to show them. The van brings a dozen meters and the
students can use them themselves, which is a lot more interesting. Wouldn't you
rather do something than watch someone else do it?''