Instituting knowledge

Deirdre Newman

Not having to go to school is usually the most exciting part of the

summer for kids.

But at a summer school in Costa Mesa, the excitement of discovery

and sharing that discovery with others is palpable.

Like 10-year-old Miguel Nateras, who was so excited after

dissecting a crayfish and examining its heart with a microscope that

he picked up the microscope and walked around the classroom with it,

eager to share his enthusiasm with others.

Or three kindergarteners so engrossed in scrutinizing the bodies

of snails with their magnifying glasses that they savored the

experience for as long as possible.

These students are part of the 2003 Summer Science/Math Institute,

presented by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. The institute

emphasizes hands-on learning.

“You get to experience and see different parts [of the crayfish],”

said Daphne Rivera, 12. “All the things you can’t see with your

eyes.”

The institute provides professional development for teachers so

they can practice honing their skills on the life science units

before teaching them during the regular school year, said Marcy

Encinas, institute coordinator.

Three hundred seventy-five students, in kindergarten through

sixth-grade, participate in the three-week program.

Kindergarten through second-grade students learn about the

diversity of life by observing and caring for a variety of animals

like snails, butterflies and millipedes. They record their

observations every day and compare and contrast the animal features.

They also set up woodland terraria and freshwater aquaria.

Teacher April Schmietenknop taught her kindergarteners about the

body parts of the snail before they examined the gastropods. Three of

her students sat on the grass Thursday and observed for themselves

what they had just learned. Grayson Erskine, 5, checked out the snail

he picked up from all different angles, gently tapping its shell and

feeling the texture of the snail’s body inside the shell.

“They’re cool,” Grayson said.

Third- and fourth-graders study plant growth and development and

ecosystems. They get to see the life cycle of a plant during the

three-week period.

The fifth- and sixth-grade students mostly focus on human body

systems of respiration, circulation and digestion, but also study

ecology.

Sixth-graders also learn about plate tectonics. On Thursday, they

investigated viscosity, the property of a fluid to resist flow, and

how it relates to the types of magma in volcanoes.

First, they compared the viscosity of substances such as honey,

peanut butter and vegetable oil. Then, using straws, a string and

tissue paper, they worked on creating molecules of silica, a mineral

found in volcanic rocks.