By CHRISTA BUGEE
BYU is not just a university for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors anymore, but also for elementary students studying microscopic air particles.
The elementary school science program, under the direction of professor of botany John S. Gardner, is in its first year. The program was developed to help fifth- and sixth-grade students learn the essentials of scientific research and problem-solving through hands-on experience.
'Much of what is done in the ordinary classroom is often just preparatory work,' said Sarah Hacken, a teacher at Barrett Elementary who is involved with the project. 'But here, while we're working on our science project, it's the real world, with real science.'
Barrett Elementary is involved in the project, along with the Alpine Life and Learning Center, Cherry Hill Elementary and Fillmore Middle School.
Blaine Greenhalgh, a teacher at Alpine Life and Learning Center agreed with Hacken. 'Instead of learning from the classroom chalkboard, these students are learning from their own experiences,' he said.
The project the students are working on is a scientific research experiment to help them see what particles are in the local air. It allows students to spend class time discussing possible particles they might find under a microscope. They are also able to gather and prepare different air samples for analyzing.
'The students collect their samples for part of the month and analyze the data shortly after they collect it. The data from the different months will be compared to determine the difference in air particulates from month to month,' Gardner said.
The different seasons give the children different particles to examine, Gardner added. Right now, the students will be studying inversions, whereas in the fall and spring a lot of pollen and grass clippings can be seen, he said.
With light microscopes in their classrooms and scheduled time in the BYU Microscopy Laboratory working on scanning electron microscopes, the students are learning the capacities of the microscopic world in a real life setting.
'The things the students are able to see with the scanning electronic microscopes are much more detailed than can be seen with the light microscopes they have in their classrooms,' Gardner explained. 'The electron microscope uses shorter wavelength electrons to produce images of smaller structures than is possible with light microscopes; this allows the students to look at smaller and smaller particles.'
The students actually get to operate BYU's microscopes, each of which cost about $130,000. Under direct supervision of undergraduate lab assistants, they learn how to prepare and insert slides, focus the microscope and even take pictures of their findings.
'The light microscope has color, so I like that,' said Felicia Graff, a student in fifth grade at Barrett Elementary. 'But I also like zooming in on things on the electron microscope.'
The undergraduate students, usually education or biology majors, help teach the essentials and then become observers as the elementary students work the controls.
'It's a fun experience for me because it's in my field of study, biology,' said Allison Dennis, a junior from Orem, majoring in biology composite teaching.
'They get excited about working with microscopes and the research that can be done. It is exciting for me to see their excitement,' Dennis added.
William Fogt, of the David O. McKay School of Education, who evaluates various learning methods to estimate educational value, said projects such as this are 'the way of the future.'
'The students are absolutely fascinated because this opens up a whole new world to them,' he said.'Not only does this project develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills, but it's also a more dynamic learning method. I think that once they walk back outside the laboratory, these students never see things quite the same,' Fogt said.