Two Stony Brook PhD students in the Geosciences Department, Melinda Rucks and Katherine Shirley, saw a need to bring a hands-on science program to grade school students. They wanted to share the kinds of experiments that inspired them and get students interested in science at a younger age than other programs.

The two students connected with University faculty members Gil Hanson and Joel Hurowitz to form a new program, Graduates for Education and Outreach (GEO).

Melissa Rucks (L) and Katherine Shirley (R) bring their hands-on science to the Maker Fair in Port Jefferson with a fossil-making demonstration.

Working with the classroom teachers, the team from Stony Brook came to Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary School in Shirley twice a month to teach different lessons, from a constellation lab with star charts to the crystallization lab with borax crystal ornaments.  The most popular experiment was the volcano demonstration which was perfect for ten-year-olds.

“We’re not just talking to them about science, Rucks said. The fifth graders  are participants and they are ‘getting a feel that they can, even at this age, actually do science…” The GEO program is helping to prepare the students for middle school with a better understanding of science and the possibility of being inspired to learn more.

For more on this story, visit grad.stonybrook.edu/News/GEO.shtml