Modesto middle schoolers teach nanoscience at Bret Harte

Eighth-graders used the tiniest things to make the biggest impact, sharing nanoscience experiments with youngsters at the school next door.

Hanshaw Middle School students with the college-bound Advancement Via Individual Determination program, better known as AVID, crossed a grassy field to neighboring Bret Harte Elementary on Wednesday, bringing a small piece of National NanoDays 2015 to south Modesto.

“It’s new science for eighth-graders and cool science for the fifth-graders,” said organizer Michele Laverty, with the National Ag Science Center. Nanoscience is not yet a textbook topic, but the field spans familiar commercial applications such as stain resistant material and polarized sunglasses.

The inter-school exercise served as pilot for an ag center Science Ambassadors program between Hanshaw and Bret Harte next year, where older kids will teach younger kids. A similar program links Mark Twain Junior High and Franklin Elementary in west Modesto.

The young science teachers are students in the AVID program who get study skills coaching with a goal of being first-generation college graduates. Giving science lessons helps the young teens develop leadership skills, said Hanshaw AVID teacher Cindi Karras.

“It benefits both. They’re learning a lot (of science) themselves, but they’re also learning about public service and volunteering,” Karras said.

At the station working with thin films, kids scratched their names on the black surface to reveal a rainbow of nano-coating colors. Watchful eighth-graders explained the science and warned impish fifth-graders not to carve out anything too colorful. “Nothing inappropriate,” came the repeated call before the signal sounded to switch stations.

“I want to become a teacher. I like working with kids and teaching,” said eighth-grader Johanna Martinez as she deftly guided a new group into place.

Across the cafeteria, other eighth-graders talked of air molecules measured in nanometers – one-billionth of a meter – then created puffs of wind to spin.

At another table, eighth-grader Yesenia Serrano dropped water on doll-size pants made of fabric treated with nano-fibers to repel water and dirt. Tiny fibers whisk away the water, just like on tightly curled leaves of kale, explained classmate Isabel Padilla. “Hydrophobic,” is the word, Yesenia Ortiz added with a grin.

“I saw a rainbow!” exclaimed fifth-grader Daniel Contreras, looking through two plastic circles that together create a polarized lens.

“I only saw lighter and darker,” said Francisco Sanchez, sitting beside him.

At yet another table, students sculpted sand treated with sticky particles like those that let geckos climb walls and zip across ceilings.

The experiments were all provided with cards explaining the science, making them grab-and-go projects any science center volunteer could do with ease, Laverty said. “They were all designed for museum floor use.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Modesto middle schoolers teach nanoscience at Bret Harte."