How do we reach the next generation of scholars, scientists and engineers? In the college, we currently have the best and the brightest students flocking here to study and do research. And the top rankings of our chemistry and chemical engineering departments help to draw in more outstanding students and scientists. But how do we reach the just-budding scientists and teach children what chemistry and chemical engineering are? Service is the third part of the University’s mission, along with teaching and research. Berkeley has long supported partnerships between schools, community colleges, and the university to improve educational opportunity and help students prepare for both college and their careers. These outreach programs help further the goals of access and excellence, preparing the next generation of scholars and leaders. And the current generation of students enhances their own learning in the process.

The campus is home to dozens of outreach programs and initiatives, all working with teachers and administrators from local schools, along with parents and community members, to improve educational opportunities from kindergarten to community college. Most programs work with students in the Bay Area, but UC Berkeley outreach has an impact that stretches throughout Northern California and the nation. Within the college there are people who take the message of science and engineering out to the community, demonstrating what these disciplines are and helping to convert students into future scientists and chemical engineers through outreach programs.

Chemistry in the Classroom

The Chemistry in the Classroom program began as a casual remark at a dinner party and has since blossomed into a thriving outreach program. A collaboration between chemistry graduate students and the nonprofit Community Resources for Science (CRS), the program uses graduate students as volunteer role models for elementary school teachers and students in order to improve chemistry education in local public elementary schools. “I knew Corrin Brown [the coordinator for CRS], and she happened to mention that she was looking to increase the level of science expertise in the classroom,” said chemistry professor Robert Bergman. “I brought up the idea at a Graduate Life Committee meeting, and it was embraced by two students, Amish Patel and Jacob Hooker, who volunteered both to teach and to organize students,” said Bergman. “We currently have more than thirty students working with CRS to get out into local classrooms and do scientific demonstrations.” To support its training of volunteers, the CIC program has recently received a grant from Dreyfus Foundation.

CRS helps graduate students select and develop demonstrations to illustrate complex scientific concepts. “Practicing with their staff members before going into the classroom helped me to feel confident that the students would learn something and that I would be expanding on their curriculum,” said volunteer Peter Pauzanshie.

The feedback from both the volunteers and the schools has been positive. According to Brown, “Children of all ages love to watch and participate in science demonstrations.” And although the Bay Area is brimming with scientists from many disciplines who would be happy to work with young students, these scientists don’t know how to establish relationship with schools and also need assistance in
translating their technical knowledge into presentations that are appropriate for elementary classrooms. “That is where we come in,” said Brown.

Added Pauzanshie, “It’s a perfect match because graduate students are quite flexible and can make time to have some fun.” Pauzanshie gets third graders thinking about phase transitions and state change using both dry ice and liquid nitrogen. “The children love the liquid nitrogen experiments, since it looks like water but evaporates instantly when poured out of its container.” And to show the few skeptics that the liquid was indeed quite cold, he dunked a flower in the liquid and proceeded to shatter it, to the amazement and amusement of the onlookers.

Many of the demonstrations from the graduate students are focused on larger issues, beyond pure chemistry, such as soil science and ecosystems, to impart a broader perspective to the students. “Everything is related” is how Amber Wise describes her message. She plays games with the children to teach them about the circle of life. First Wise, a chemistry graduate student, she assigns everyone to be an object in the ecosystem. “They get to be things like air, soil, water, people and plants. One child takes a ball of yarn, holds the loose string, and tosses the ball to another child whose assigned element connects with their own, such as tree connecting to soil, and then explains the connection. In the end we make a big interlocking web, to illustrate that everything is interdependent.” next page>>>