Science Consultants volunteer to teach more than 1,450 Rochester-area
Elementary students each year
Listening to the oohs and ahhs coming from a fourth-grade classroom at School 16 in
Rochester, you'd think teacher Stacie Barry was pulling rabbits out of a hat.
There is magic going on in her classroom, but it's not what you think.
Today is a Xerox Science Day - a day when the kids discover first-hand the mysteries of
science, thanks to a cooler full of dry ice and two Xerox Corporation scientists there to
teach as Xerox Science Consultants.
Through its Science Consultant Program, Xerox provides more than 50 different science
kits with materials that allow children to experiment the way scientists do. During the
year, they build a circuit, dissect flowers, grow crystals, work with slime and putty,
discover static electricity, and explore concepts like probability and chance.
"The kits are key to bringing the magic of science to the kids," says Lou Bostic, a senior
system administrator at Xerox and a Xerox Science Consultant for four years.
According to Mary Thomas, principal at School 16, the program and Xerox people are also
key to boosting test results. "The Xerox Science Consultant Program has had a direct effect
on our New York State Elementary Science Program Evaluation Test scores,"
Thomas says.
For example, in 2004, the first year at School 16 where Xerox consultants taught all
fourth-grade classrooms, she saw a 23 percent increase in scores, with 56 percent of the
students passing the test.
Science in 72 Classrooms
Xerox people have helped kids discover the wonders of science for 37 years through the
Science Consultant Program, funded by Xerox Community Relations in Rochester. The program
matches Xerox people to about 72 third- through sixth-grade elementary classrooms in
Rochester and Webster, N.Y., each year, where the volunteers teach lessons in biology,
chemistry, earth science, physics and more.
Xerox employees receive management support and are granted time away from work to prepare
and conduct the lessons. For the 2004-2005 school year, 61 Xerox scientists, engineers or
other technical employees are volunteering at schools twice each month. In the 2003-2004
year, the Xerox scientists made almost 300 classroom visits, reaching more than 1,450
students who conducted experiments 15,680 times.
Barry, the fourth-grade teacher at School 16, says the program not only boosts test scores
but also has a positive effect on students who may be difficult to teach or reach. "Many
of my children have special needs. Many have difficulty with basics like reading and
writing. But when it is Xerox Science Day, I see the light bulbs go off," she says.
Making Liquid Nitrogen Magic
Each month, Bostic and Jim Frankunas, a Xerox engineer, come into Barry's classroom with a
lesson coordinated with her science curriculum. Recently they rolled in with thermometers,
a cooler of dry ice and liquid nitrogen. The lesson that day was on states of matter, and
they used the tools to demonstrate how water changes states based on changes in
temperature.
"They really get the science concepts because it is a way they can see, feel and hear
it," says Bostic. "This is not just about science. This program gives the kids a real
self-esteem boost because we teach them there is more than one way to get an answer. A
scientific hypothesis is an educated guess that you simply prove or disprove. It's
the process that is important - not just the outcome."
"When I'm polling the students and asking for a hypothesis, they come up with things
I hadn't even thought of," says Frankunas, a Xerox volunteer for three years. "This
program not only opens up the kids' minds to new creative possibilities, but it's a
good reminder for me when I go back and have to solve a problem at work."
"I have been involved with the Xerox Science Consultant Program for the past 20 years.
Shortly after I joined School 16, I asked Xerox to bring the program here," Principal
Thomas says. "If my children are showing weaknesses in a certain area - for example,
electrical energy - I know we can support the weaknesses with textbooks, videos, and
lectures. We also need resources to conduct the hands-on experiments. That is where
Xerox comes in. We really believe we are better able to address the learning styles of
all of our students with the support and resources provided by Xerox."
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