Armed with raspberry juice, pennies and an aluminum tray with
foam and magnets floating in an inch of water, members of the
California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA outreach program are
attempting to enrich overall science education throughout Los
Angeles County and inspire a new generation of high school students
to pursue science degrees in college.
Members and supporters of the institute outreach program
gathered Friday in Young Hall for an exhibition of nanotechnology
experiments designed by the graduate and postdoctoral students who
constitute the program’s membership.
As part of the outreach effort, flyers are sent to teachers from
the Los Angeles Unified School District advertising the program,
which aims to teach the teachers how to perform experiments with
their students.
Interested teachers go through a six-part training program
during which they are taught one experiment each month for six
months.
The program, which is in its fourth year, originally targeted
teachers in underprivileged areas, but has since opened up to all
teachers.
Sarah Tolbert, program director and founder, who is also an
associate professor of chemistry at UCLA, said the goal of the
program was to be more than just another academic group serving the
greater Los Angeles community.
“You help 30 teachers, you help thousands of
students,” Tolbert said.
At the exhibition, students demonstrated abbreviated versions of
the six experiments the teachers learned, involving the likes of
solar cells, photolithography and scanning tunneling microscopes.
All of the experiments were designed with student safety in mind,
said Steve Joiner, a graduate student in chemistry.
At the solar cell demonstration table Joiner explained that the
experiment uses raspberry juice to absorb light instead of the more
powerful carcinogenic dyes used by solar cell companies in order to
protect the students.
“The goal is to have cutting edge, fun science,”
Joiner said.
Bill Carroll, president of the American Chemical Society,
stopped by the exhibition as part of his 15-city Extreme National
Chemistry Week Tour, which spanned from Oct. 14 to Oct. 23. He said
sometimes people have to “do something a little
outrageous” to bring attention to the students’ need of
a good scientific education.
He said his goal is not to force students to like science
because of potentially well-paying jobs in the field, but simply to
introduce them to the field.
“Do what you love and the money will follow,” he
said. “It’s not original, but it’s true. Give
(the students) the opportunity to love this and pick it.”
Tolbert said the nanotechnology experiments have been tailored
to fit within the state’s curriculum requirements so she
encourages all teachers to join the program.
“Whoever you are, you can do this,” she said.