Science lab grade is improved

Suzie Harrison

The American Assn. of University Women Laguna Beach teamed up with

Thurston Middle School Principal Joanne Culverhouse Monday night for

an evening of science education.

The association awards scholarships to Laguna Beach High School

graduating senior girls, fosters after-school programs and helps fund

local school programs.

Culverhouse, who is a member of the organization, gave a tour of

some of the school’s updated facilities, including seventh- and

eighth-grade science labs.

Seventh-grade science students had just finished a unit on

reproduction, creating unique models in place of ordinary organs.

Culverhouse said groups of three and four students worked together,

encouraging students to collaborate and work in teams.

“You can see they [the students] are very project-oriented; it’s

important for middle school,” Culverhouse said.

The eighth-graders also exhibited finished products. Students had

to duplicate the periodic table. Each used a theme to associate with

the elements, such as clothes, Disney characters, desserts or racing

bikes. Imagination was an important part of the assignment.

Culverhouse followed with a talk about the latest adolescent brain

development research.

She referred to an article in Time magazine dated May 10, 2004

titled “What Makes Teens Tick,” which pointed out the importance of

using tools to better understand and educate students.

With the use of brain imaging, using a high-powered MRI, brain

development was studied with interesting results for middle school

youths.

“By age 11 for girls and 12 1/2 for boys, the neurons in the

front of the brain formed thousands of new connections,” Culverhouse

said. “As the students got older, the synapses were not connecting,

so they started pruning.”

Culverhouse noted an example where middle students’ brains were

scanned while they answered rapid-fire questions.

“They consistently answered wrong, showing [that] impulse [was]

controlling the answers, verses logic controlling answers,”

Culverhouse said. “Brains from age 11 to 18 are not firing correctly.

Information never got from one synapse to the other synapse.”

Culverhouse said this is typical of adolescent behavior, including

risk-taking at that age. She said she had changed a policy of

allowing skateboards at Thurston after she saw a student fall while

riding, earlier that day.

“It was a lack-of-thinking riding on Park Avenue,” Culverhouse

said. “They’re not thinking about the risks of their behavior.”

Books by author Michael Bradley such as “Yes, Your Teen is Crazy:

Loving Your Kid without Losing Your Mind” are good tools, Culverhouse

said. Bradley, an expert in the field of parenting adolescents, spoke

to parents, teachers, and educators on the topic at the PTA Coffee

Break series in February.

The teachers are also working to determine the best ways to teach

students based on the individual student’s unique method of learning.

Culverhouse said sixth-graders are profoundly disorganized.

“Through observation and working with teachers, we’ve decided to

implement a mandatory organizational wheel,” Culverhouse said. “It

will be part of the curriculum we implement next year.”