No one will ever know how many would-have-been scientists followed another path because their introduction to science in elementary school was to be bored stiff by a science textbook instead of exploring the wonders of a laboratory.

Faculty and graduate students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Princeton Materials Institute are working with elementary school teachers from around Mercer County to help them get youngsters intrigued with science, not prematurely turned off.

"There is a movement nationally that has taken root here in Mercer County toward what is known as inquiry-based science education,'' said Professor of Chemical Engineering Richard Register. "Instead of a textbook, the students learn for themselves hands-on.''

In November, Professor Register, along with chemical engineering graduate students LiBong Lee and Lynn Loo, held a workshop attended by about 30 fifth grade teachers from area schools.

It was the largest yet of three annual workshops in a promising program to make the expertise of Princeton scholars available for elementary science educators in surrounding communities.

Emily Defilippo, a teacher at Antheil Elementary School in Ewing, has also been active in the program, said Professor Register.

"For all of us this is purely voluntary,'' he said.

Various organizations now produce and distribute "pre-packaged experiments'' designed to make laboratory instruction practical for elementary school teachers who have little background in science, Professor Register said.

The Materials Institute works in partnership with the Invention Factory in Trenton, which provides the kits to teachers, to enhance the effectiveness of using the kits to introduce elementary students to science.

The Nov. 29 workshop focused on the Mixtures and Solutions kit.

"That is certainly central to chemical engineering, and that is our department,'' Professor Register said. "The problem is that the kit manual does not provide a lot of background material or contextual information on why this is important. We fill in those gaps.''

The teachers who attended the workshop either will soon be using the Mixtures and Solutions kit or have used it but needed help guiding students to understand the principles demonstrated by the various experiments, said LiBong.

"The teachers have the manual telling them what to do, but there is nothing telling them what is to be learned from that,'' she said. "The workshop provides more context. After all, mixtures and solutions are things that even fifth grade kids encounter every day, over and over again, in the course of ordinary life. The goal is to get them thinking about that.''

To demonstrate that scientific principles govern every day life, the workshop used common mixtures, such as mud, cake batter, and milk, and equally common solutions, such as vinegar and gasoline. LiBong created the experiments using the milk products, said Professor Register.

While the Princeton Materials Institute is doing frontier research, it is engaged in efforts to bolster science instruction at the elementary school level as part of its community outreach obligation, said Professor Register.

The workshops and an extensive web site of background material are part of that effort.

As is often the case, learning is a two-way street. Professor Register and the graduate students observed science instruction in school classrooms and listened to teachers explaining their needs in preparing for the workshop.

"The teachers told us exactly what they wanted,'' LiBong said. "They invited us to the classroom to watch the kids. It was interesting because they will sometimes focus on something that we would not have expected.''

Professor Register expressed renewed respect for the teachers working in elementary schools.

"The teachers all have quite a knowledge of what it is like to work with the kids,'' he said. "We have a solid knowledge of the material, but I would be the last one to claim I am the right person to teach it to an 11-year-old."

 

Richard Register, professor of chemical engineering, explains mixtures and solutions to a group of elementary school teachers. Photo by Frank Wojciechowski