Sisters students explore science

Last Wednesday, Sisters Elementary School (SES) was in an uproar most of the day with scientists from every walk of life mixing in with the students.

Einstein Day was underway. There were worms - real live compost worms, albeit tiny ones - in Mrs. Holden's third- and fourth-grade classroom in the morning. Then in the afternoon the worms were sent to Mrs. Stengel's room for the first- and second-graders to study.

While one group of third- and fourth-graders were learning the role of worms in composting, the other group was in Mr. Warburton's room learning about personal health from volunteers at St. Charles Medical Center, who gave the same opportunity to first- and second-graders in Mrs. Lane's room in the afternoon.

Einstein Day was the creation of the SES teachers, with Katie Parsons providing the organizational leadership. All the Sisters Science Club (SSC) had to do was say, "yes," when Parsons asked them to help run two stations: electricity and the microscopic world.

One of the founders of SSC, retired UCLA professor Dr. Robert Collins, hopes that Wednesday's event will become a template for future teacher-initiated school-community science events for pre-K to 12th grades.

As soon as Parsons and her crew went looking for help, the Sisters Astronomy Club jumped in with an eager bunch of volunteers toting binoculars, telescopes and an inflatable planetarium. Debbie Cole, of the East Cascades Area Health Education Center, came to talk about human health - using a dissected human dummy to enhance the kids' learning.

Jackie Wilson, education leader from Bend Environmental Center - a woman who enjoys teaching about recycling and health of the Earth - sent her associate Kirin Stryker to Einstein Day with composting worms to show the SES students and talk about ways of recycling waste foods.

Sisters High School senior Phylicia Landis pitched in (along with the other 20 SHS students who were also part of Einstein Day), using her skills to help students understand the role of worms in keeping the earth healthy. During a break in her duties, Phylicia said, "Going back to my elementary school was monumental! I love children and every volunteer in our community; they're so kind and generous.

"Participating in Einstein Day and seeing so many young students engaged was heart-warming. It made me so happy and I can't wait to have another opportunity again."

To help make the event more diverse, science club volunteers gathered up all the microscopes they could find to share the world of tiny things with the students. Fossils, preserved insects and spiders, and a wide selection of micro-invertebrates brought, "Wows" and "yuks!" from the young students as they were introduced to the miniature world around them.

Husband-and-wife team Rod and Carol Morehead had a grand time helping at Einstein Day. Rod was one of the Sisters Astronomy Club volunteers, helping the students to enjoy and understand how binoculars and telescopes function in studying objects far from them, while Carol was at the other end of the visual spectrum, helping students understand how microscopes work.

Mark Thompson, one of the first SSC members to say, "count me in," had only five days to put together a bunch of circuit boards to teach Electricity 101 to young students.

"I was so happy when one of the boards wouldn't work," Mark said, laughing, "because as I was trying to find what was wrong, one of the kids saw the problem immediately, and we got it going together."

Half of the gymnasium was turned into a telescope academy and astronomy workshop where the Sisters Astronomy Club set up all kinds of telescopes and the planetarium. When the children came into the club's display, they were greeted first by SHS seniors Breanna Perry and Natalie Ambrose, who showed them how to work a star-chart that provided the location of stars and planets they would see in the planetarium.

Breanna was so wrapped up in working with the elementary students, she said the day flew by too quickly. As the last child passed her and Natalie's station, Breanna commented, "It's been so much fun being involved with Einstein Day. I've enjoyed watching the stars spark kids' interest and see them get excited about learning. I'm so glad to have been a part of this day."

Rima Givot, SHS biology teacher, took the day off from working with her high school students and ran the Skylab planetarium. All day long groups took turns crawling into the planetarium for an opportunity to learn about two of our most popular constellations: Orion, a prominent constellation visible throughout the world, and Ursa Major (Big Dipper), which helps us find the North Star and "keep on course."

Givot was surprised and pleased at how many correct answers came from the young students when she and her SHS helper, Robert Merola, pointed their lasers at the constellations inside of the planetarium dome, and asked what they were.

A highlight of the planetarium experience was a story Merola shared with the students about his growing up in Rhode Island where he never had the opportunity to see planets and stars in the night sky because of the glow of city lights.

"What a wonderful surprise it was when we moved to Sisters and could see everything in the heavens every night," he said.

He then went on to tell the students what happened last week when his grandmother came to visit her family in Sisters.

"We were walking outdoors one night, and she made the comment about how it was too dark outside. I told her, yes, it is dark in Sisters and we want to keep it that way, and not have our nights become like it is back east."

At the end of the day, as the last students were crawling out of the planetarium, Rob gave a great sigh of pleasure and said, "As a young elementary student I was fascinated about nature. It was at that age," he said, pointing to one of the students passing by, "I was exposed to astronomy, now one of my favorite hobbies. I'm very happy to teach these young students about the stars; hopefully they'll take something from this day and gain new interests."

Teacher Julie Holden was obviously delighted.

"It's so exciting to see elementary students engaged in hands-on science," she said. "The cooperation between high school students, science club volunteers and community members has made this science day outstanding."