The Mercury News

Science workshops teach next generation of engineers, scientists

Nonprofit Schmahl program teaches roughly 32,000 children a year

- By Paul Rogers progers@bayareanew­sgroup.com

It’s not unusual for first graders to gather around a teeter-totter.

On a recent Friday morning at Hayes Elementary School in south San Jose, they were doing just that — but indoors. All in the name of science. On one end, Alyssa Baldovinos, age 6, jumped up and down with all her might. On the other end, not budging, stood science instructor Kim Garrett, who told the 20 wide-eyed kids they weren’t really looking at a seesaw, but instead a simple machine called a lever and a fulcrum.

“We’re not working this machine right,” Garrett said, grinning. “How can we change our machine so she can pick me up?”

The exchange was a classic lesson by Schmahl Science Work

shops, a nonprofit group based in San Jose that teaches roughly 32,000 children a year — many of them in low-income areas — with energetic, handson science programs. The group is seeking $15,000 from Wish Book supporters this holiday season to provide workshops for 60 classrooms in Santa Clara County next year.

With a team of about 15 instructor­s who include former scientists who have worked at places like Stanford, NASA, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Oracle, Hewlett Packard and Apple, the organizati­on teaches kids, mostly in kindergart­en through sixth grade, about insects, magnets, seeds, sunspots, batteries, minerals, the water cycle, plate tectonics and dozens of other topics. Marble mazes help students learn about gravity and kinetic energy. Earthquake­s are taught with shake tables and mini buildings the kids construct from gumdrops and marshmallo­ws.

The goal, says Belinda Lowe-Schmahl, the group’s executive director, is to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, no matter where they come from.

“Schools do teach science, but the problem is the amount of time they can devote to it,” she said. “In the best of situations, teachers are getting less than half an hour a week to teach science. To really make an impact they need more time.”

They also need equipment. And veteran instructor­s.

“This is amazing for the kids,” said Marissa Graham, whose first grade class the Schmahl instructor­s were visiting with the teeter totter. “The materials are things we don’t have access to. The instructor­s are engaging. They have so much experience. The kids love it. They get so excited when they come.”

A first-year teacher who studied at UC Santa Cruz and earned her credential at San Jose State, Graham said that upcoming teachers spend a lot of time in college learning about how to teach math and reading, but not much attention is devoted to science.

That’s where instructor­s like Garrett — a former science teacher in the Oak Grove School District who has worked with the Schmahl program for seven years — can help.

“To do a lab where you put something in every child’s hands, most teachers don’t have the time to prepare it,” said Garrett. “And the cleanup can take half an hour. We’re here to make the book learning come alive. We’re here to inspire.”

The organizati­on started in 1994, when LoweSchmah­l, a biochemist trained at UC Riverside, realized her fourth grade daughter, Jennifer, didn’t have a project for the upcoming science fair. She helped her create one in the garage, and with a few friends it became a club.

“She wanted to do a project on bacteria. She wanted to know how dirty your money is,” Low-Schmahl remembered. “It was called ‘Microbes on Your Moolah.’ ”

After a few phone calls, researcher­s at San Jose State helped with the testing.

“She found you better wash your hands every time you handle money,” mom remembered.

The group became a formal nonprofit organizati­on in 1996. Since then, Schmahl Science Workshops has taught an estimated 325,000 children over three decades. It now offers mentoring programs and summer camps. Some of its students have gone on to become scientists. Others, teachers.

Jennifer is 32 now. She’s a social worker. Seeing kids in struggling schools growing up made an impact.

“It changed my kids as people,” said LoweSchmah­l. “They realized they were privileged to live where they did and have the education that they did.”

At Hayes Elementary, the boys and girls learned about an Archimedes screw that could lift water. They also put hundreds of plastic pieces together and snapped gears on them, cranking them, and working in teams to make simple machines.

When it came to the teeter-totter — or rather fulcrum and lever — Garrett quizzed them on how a 6-year-old might lift a grown-up. Nearly every hand went up.

“Put two people on it!” one boy said.

“She could sit down!” countered a girl.

“Switch sides!” said another child.

After trying all those options, Garrett kept quizzing and the students became more engaged.

“How can we change the pieces of the machine to make it work?” she said.

Heads turned sideways. Hands stroked chins.

“Maybe we should not put the fulcrum in the middle!” said one boy who had been sitting quietly in the back.

They shifted it closer to the girl, but still she couldn’t lift Garrett.

“Try the other side,” the boy said.

“Ah,” said Garrett, moving the triangular wood block, or fulcrum, closer to her side. “Now we have more lever. Can I get a drum roll?”

All the kids tapped their hands on the floor. The pigtailed Baldovinos, who likely weighed no more than 45 pounds, stepped on the wooden plank again.

Eureka! Garrett rose up off the ground.

The entire class erupted in squeals of joy.

“You did it! You did it!” Garrett said. “Our machine made the work easier. If we put the fulcrum next to the load, we can do more work!”

One boy raised his hand, and in an eager voice blurted out: “Can we do something else?”

 ?? ANDA CHU — STAFF PHOTOGRAPH­ER ?? First grader Alyssa Baldovinos, 6, builds a gear machine during a lesson on simple machines: gears and levers.
ANDA CHU — STAFF PHOTOGRAPH­ER First grader Alyssa Baldovinos, 6, builds a gear machine during a lesson on simple machines: gears and levers.

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