Posted: Friday, February 13, 2009 12:00 am
Process of discovery helps mothers connect in a wide-ranging fashion with their little girls
By Alex Paul
Gazette-Times reporter
Jennifer Rock and her daughters, Kelsey, 9, and Cherish, 6, leaned over closely and examined three glass vials that rested on the table in front of them.
They watched with amazement as fuzz-like strands of material formed in the tops of the vials. That "fuzz," Jay Well told them, was their deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, the basic code that determines what each of us looks like - brown hair, blonde hair, blue eyes, brown eyes.
The process was one of many that 14 mother-and-daughter pairs from Lincoln Elementary School have shared over the last month through a program sponsored by the Science & Math Investigative Learning Experiences (SMILE) program at OSU.
"The idea behind the mother-daughter science nights was to connect mothers and daughters in learning experiences with college faculty and students," said Well, a SMILE programs coordinator. "The project was meant to address the needs of local minority and low-income students through extended learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics."
Some 70 percent of students at Lincoln are from low-income families and 50 percent participate in English-language learner classes.
Students and their mothers met for 90 minutes one night per week from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4. Some of them spent much of Wednesday on the university campus, where they participated in science-oriented projects including making their own lip balm aided by College of Pharmacy students, toured the Food Science and Technology Department and had lunch at one of the university's dining halls.
The weekly projects incorporated science and math into fun events such as learning about the thermodynamics of making pizza, exploring the world of bugs, including a visit from the OSU Bug Zoo, and studying water by making ice cream. For several, the best project of all was tasting and smelling chocolate. They also created their own chocolate-based spa treatments.
"I wanted to try it," fourth-grader Kelsey Rock said of why she stepped up for the program. "I thought it would be fun to do something with my mom."
Although her favorite project was testing chocolate, Kelsey said she also enjoys seeing how machinery works. She was fascinated by how things can change their shape, such as apples that were freeze-dried during the tour of the food sciences building.
"I also got to meet other girls who are interested in science," Kelsey said.
As to whether Kelsey goes to college, Jennifer Rock said her daughter, "has no choice - she's going! She's already accelerated in math. The program gave us time to be together. She's a middle child, so there's usually someone else with us when we do things."
McKenzie Cooke, 10, is in the fifth grade and also enjoyed sharing the learning experience with her mother, Janet Cooke.
"It was awesome," McKenzie said. "Making ice cream and pizza was fun."
"I've really enjoyed being with her and learning new stuff, or remembering things I had forgotten," Cooke said. "We also got to discuss things after each program."
Although the program was sponsored by SMILE, it was paid for in part by a $2,500 grant from the Zonta Service Foundation of Corvallis.
The learning experience will culminate with a Family Science Night at Lincoln School from 6 to 8 p.m. March 3.
"This has been a great pilot program," Well said. "It has demonstrated the need for programs like this to not only continue at Lincoln, but also be brought to other schools in the Corvallis area."
Alex Paul can be reached at alex.paul@lee.net or by calling 758-9526.