BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
Clockwise from top left – Kathleen Scott, of the Rutgers University Science Explorer bus, helps Suraj Patel prepare his DNA experiment. Seventh-grader Max Dienemann checks out the equipment he will use to conduct the DNA experiment. Allison Candelmo, a Rutgers graduate student, teaches seventh-graders at Edgar Middle School about DNA on the bus on May 2. METUCHEN – Parked in front of Edgar Middle School was a bus like no other.
With work stations lining both sides of the aisle from the captain’s chair to the giant flat-screen television along the back wall, this bus does more than just drive, it teaches.
For three straight days, students at Edgar Middle School climbed into the Rutgers Science Explorer, a 40-foot-long bus fitted with science equipment, for a lesson in science that turned every one of them into a geneticist.
On May 2, Judy Graziano’s seventh-grade class had a lesson in DNA that had them delve into the world of electrophoresis gel, enzymes and the building blocks of life.
PHOTOSBYSCOTT PILLING Staff Kathleen Scott, the director of the Rutgers Science Explorer program, said the program exposes children to a science that is more than textbooks and videos, it’s tangible.
“We show them science is something they can do,” Scott said. “It’s fun and exciting. It’s accessible.”
The Rutgers Science Explorer program is run by Rutgers University’s Math and Science Learning Center, which offers hands-on demonstrations of scientific experiments for students throughout the state. The bus is the automotive arm of that program.
According to Scott, the bus makes one- to three-day trips to middle schools in the state and has recently been spotted in places such as Camden, Cape May, Woodstown in Salem County and Highland Park.
The program elicits the services of fellows of the center, who are usually graduate students at the university, to teach science programs about, among other things, electricity, volcanoes and DNA.
Allison Candelmo, a graduate student in the field of marine ecology, led Graziano’s class in a discussion about DNA, which included a PowerPoint presentation and a vigorous volley of questions and answers. All the while, students were being taught how to extract, process and distinguish different strands of DNA and the processes behind them. When they were done, each pair of students had an example of DNA mapped out in electrophoresis gel and a better understanding of the building blocks of life.
Graziano believes using graduate students is advantageous for the students and the fellows.
“The best thing is the exposure of these kids to a grad student – it is priceless,” Graziano said.
Graziano said that the program coincides with the seventh-grade life science curriculum and that she would use the experience on the bus as a tangible representation of what they are learning in class.
For Scott, the benefits of the program go beyond just getting students excited about science.
“We try to show them that scientists aren’t just old fogies,” Scott said.