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Article for: The Davis Enterprise
Date: February 28, 2003
Author: Leslie Madsen
Contact: Tom Wickersham

EXPLORIT JOINS NEW PROGRAM FOR UNDERSERVED STUDENTS

Thanks in part to Explorit Science Center, students who speak English, Spanish, Hmong, Lao, Ukrainian, Russian, and twenty other languages are learning to speak a new tongue-the language of science.

Explorit is part of a new initiative to bring out-of-school experiences to low-income neighborhoods in Sacramento. Called Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning, or CORAL, the program integrates the resources and talents of several area agencies. In seven elementary schools across the city, the Sacramento Children's Home and the Center for Fathers and Families are coordinating the activities of organizations as diverse as Explorit Science Center, Matrix Arts, the Sacramento Discovery Museum, YMCA, Zapato Martial Arts, and the Sacramento Zoo.

With Sacramento's CORAL programs slated to launch in March, Explorit is already piloting hands-on science programs with 37 first- and second-grade students at Noralto Elementary School in North Sacramento. Explorit soon will expand these programs to Freeport and John Bidwell elementary schools.

"What Explorit will be doing," explained Jessica Ruskin, Explorit's educational programs director, "is visiting the schools on a weekly basis to work with the same kids every week,

"What we do here in Davis is a valuable service," Ruskin said, "but kids come on a field trip to the science center and have only this one experience. Now we're seeking to make a more sustained impact. Instead of just one visit, we're delivering a complete connected science curriculum. These are all low-income schools, with lots of English language learners, and we really want to give them inquiry-based experiences focused on a variety of sciences, with an overarching theme of learning different science processes."

CORAL activities are not only taking place in Sacramento; they have also begun in Pasadena, Long Beach, San Jose, and Fresno. Sponsored by the James Irvine Foundation, CORAL programs aim to involve children with art, music and sports while providing them with academic assistance and a safe place to play.

According to the James Irvine Foundation, half of all children in elementary or middle school have both parents or a single parent working 30 hours per week or more. Not coincidentally, juvenile crime peaks between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.-the hours during which youths are least supervised.

CORAL is distinguished from other out-of-school activities in that its collaborators are creating their programs from the ground up, forging community partnerships and fostering collective responsibility for student learning and achievement. According to the James Irvine Foundation, CORAL's emphasis on community partnerships ensures it will be self-sustaining. CORAL has received seven years of funding from the James Irvine Foundation.

Explorit's educational staff expressed excitement at the new programming Explorit is developing for CORAL.  Already, students at Noralto Elementary are investigating weather by constructing their own barometers and weathervanes, said Nicole Fleming, an educational specialist with Explorit.

"We're going to let kids know that they're scientists and break many kids' pre-conceived notions of scientists-that they're not just lab-coated guys blowing up stuff," Fleming said. "Right now, with first and second graders we're doing things with microscopes, getting them to use lab books, doing units on weather, fossils, a week on biology, a week on chemistry, all hands-on projects."

Many of these students experience little to no science during the regular school day. At their first meeting with students, Fleming and Ruskin asked students to draw scientists. They received pictures instead of frogs, spiders, houses, and cars.

Despite these challenges, Explorit educators say they are optimistic about the program's outcomes. 

"I think we're really going to be able to make a difference in how these students view science," Fleming said. "I just think great things can be accomplished with this program."

Explorit Science Center is at 3141 5th Street in East Davis. The current exhibition is "Written in Stone: The Story of Sand, Soil and Rocks," which continues through Apr. 5. Public hours are Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.explorit.org or call Explorit at (530) 756-0191.