Science Has Early Risers Wide Awake

At an hour when most teen-agers were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, 85 students filed into a biology classroom at Alhambra High School. The class meets three times a week during “zero period,” so named because it commences at 7 a.m., almost an hour before school officially begins.

What drives these students to rise before dawn to come to a class they don’t have to take?

A soft-spoken girl--one of a handful enrolled in the course--supplied the answer. “You get to do your own research,” she said firmly.

Doing experiments out of a textbook is not what she meant by research, however. What turns these kids on is, in the words of one intrepid student scientist, “getting into the unknown.”

They have that opportunity in an honors course called Bio-Medical Studies--or Bio-Med for short. It is the most sought-after class at Alhambra, and the centerpiece of a science program any high school would love to take credit for.

Problem-Solving Approach

According to Bio-Med teacher Duane Nichols, the students must define a scientific problem and, through independent research, attempt to solve it. In the process, they have a chance to reap tangible rewards.

For years, Bio-Med whizzes have dominated local high school science contests, including the Los Angeles County science fair. Moreover, Alhambra is usually the only local high school to place several finalists a year in the nationwide Westinghouse Science Talent Search. Even Hollywood has taken notice: About 30 Bio-Med students’ research projects were featured in two summer movies, “Real Genius” and “My Science Project.”

On a recent morning, Nichols took a seat in the back of the room while a student addressed the class. The young man, clad in dark pants, sweater vest and tie, was holding forth on a complicated subject: A new, faster method for determining the origin of a glass fragment.

He spoke confidently of “PCBs,” “densities,” “halogens” and “volatility,” concepts that would befuddle most laymen. But none of his classmates, who range from freshmen to seniors, appeared lost. When he finished, they peppered him with questions and he answered with aplomb.

Someone asked, for example, how useful the procedure is.

“It’s something you don’t hear about too much, like on ‘Quincy,’ ” said the youth, a senior named David Hamamoto. “But it is used. Like if you found a small piece of glass on a cadaver, and you wanted to know where it came from.”

Although Hamamoto is only 17, he will co-author an article about the research with Henrik Keyzer, a chemistry professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Keyzer, who has invited a number of neophyte scientists from Alhambra into his laboratory over the years, said the new technique will be useful in criminal investigations and other forensic work.

It is not unusual for Alhambra students to achieve such impressive results. One student employed a computer to depict a molecule that, Keyzer said, is difficult to visualize. Another student used a computer to devise a new method to determine the orbit of a small planet called Pallas. Her work earned a Westinghouse award two years ago.

In the last 10 years, Alhambra has placed five students in the Westinghouse top 40. (Those 40 students, chosen from more than 1,000 contestants, earn college scholarships.) In addition, every year the school places several students in the honors group of Westinghouse’s top 300, a track record second to none in Los Angeles County.

Research Grants Awarded

In the past year, Alhambra won: 2 of the 6 local research grants awarded by the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Museum of Science and Industry and the U.S. Army; 7 of 14 Junior Academy of Science awards, and 6 of 20 Committee for Advanced Science Training (CAST) awards.

Most recently, Alhambra students garnered the three highest awards in a competition sponsored by the 10th Congress of the International Society of Developmental Biologists, which met in Los Angeles this summer. The school won $3,000, while the students received prizes ranging from $100 to $300.

“If politics had been involved, the contest might not have gone that way,” said USC dentistry professor Paul C. Denny, who coordinated the competition, open to high school students in Southern California. “But when we were judging we decided we didn’t want to know what school the kids came from. There was no concern for spreading out the prizes. We just went on

what we thought was best.

“I would say the end result says something very strongly about the program” at Alhambra.

How do they do it?

Nearly everyone familiar with the program comments on the the caliber of the students. For example, when Dr. George Stone of the City of Hope Medical Center was invited to speak to the class, he was dubious about the reception he would receive at such an early hour. But he was surprised.

“There were 60 students sitting there like little sponges,” he recalled. “Their attitude was, ‘Tell me everything you know in 30 minutes.’ That’s how totally motivated they are.”

Principal Frank R. Cano said the students’ scientific bent is part of the “personality” of the school. “Some schools have a real interest in band or choir. Our kids are just interested in science and math,” he said. “They’re high-tech people. They’re interested in being doctors and research scientists. They know those jobs are prestigious and high-paying.”

Hamamoto, the student who helped discover the faster method of identifying glass fragments, eventually wants to work in research and development for a medical or industrial firm. He has taken Bio-Med for three of his four years at Alhambra and regards his decision to skip the class in his sophomore year “my biggest mistake,” he said, because he missed some opportunities to enter contests and do research.

‘Incredible Network’

“The biggest asset of this class is that they’ve established this incredible network of information about contests and research programs. It’s all coming in here,” said Hamamoto, who is a former president of the campus math-science club and writes for the student newspaper.

Fellow senior Roger Yee, one of the students involved in the sweep of the International Society of Developmental Biologists’ contest, said he had planned on being in Bio-Med since hearing about it in seventh grade from an older cousin.

Now in his fourth year in the class, Yee said his experiences have given him an advantage over other students because he has learned what research is like--often tedious and unrewarding. He wants to work in industry, perhaps in new-product testing, where research is geared to practical applications.

The Bio-Med class is almost entirely Asian, partly a result of the fact that Asians make up the the largest ethnic group in the school. Alhambra, with 3,500 students, is 44% Asian, 35% Latino and 20% white. John Hartnett, chairman of the science department, and others say that the Asian students seem to prefer math and science over other subjects and receive strong encouragement at home. Many of them, like Yee, anticipate being in Bio-Med while still in grade school by taking all the science and math classes they can.

So many students want to take advanced math and college-prep science courses that every year for the last several years Alhambra has offered at least six classes each of chemistry, biology and physics. This year there are nine biology classes. Also, the curriculum includes no fewer than five advanced-placement calculus classes. “Other schools would be happy to have one,” Nichols said.

B Average Needed

Those courses, he added, are not “watered down.” Alhambra resisted the trend in the late 1960s and early 1970s to loosen requirements and make some courses easier. It takes a B average overall, for example, to enroll in biology. “That may be equivalent to advanced biology in some schools,” said department chairman Hartnett.

Bright students and a solid curriculum are not the only factors in Alhambra’s success, however. Some say the real reason why Bio-Med has prospered is Grace Verburg, the Alhambra biology teacher who started the class with six students in 1972.

Verburg, who retired in 1983, wanted to provide students with an opportunity to conduct independent research. She built a network of contacts with local scientists and research laboratories, accumulated information on science fairs and research grants, and coached students who entered contests. The class was almost an immediate success: By the second semester, she had to limit enrollment to 55.

Arie Korporaal, science consultant for the office of the Los Angeles County superintendent of schools, said of Verburg: “She was able to get the kids to do two things. One was to prepare good research projects--good, scientifically sound projects. The second thing was she prepared the kids for expressing their ideas, in written form and orally in an interview. They would come to everything, and in every case you knew who the Alhambra kids were without reading the names of the schools. Their abstracts were very well written, and the students were very prepared.” Under Nichols’ direction, he added, the program has continued to produce exceptional students.

Bio-Med, Korporaal said, is “the kind of program you would like to see everywhere.” But one doesn’t, and the reason, he said, is the extra hours and effort required of the teacher. “What you see in the Alhambra kids is a reflection of the teacher’s intense interest. That is what has paid off for them. Not all teachers are willing to do that. I don’t want to sound critical,” said Korporaal, “but in a sense I guess I am.”

Keyzer, the Cal State chemistry professor, also attributes Alhambra’s success to enlightened teachers who generate enthusiasm about science by encouraging their students to compete.

Driving Factor

“It’s a pretty well-proven fact that once you turn somebody on and allow them to exhibit (their work) the kudos (is) the driving factor,” he said. “It’s a thing that tends to feed on itself. Once you get the pleasure of success, you begin to learn more about science. And, ultimately, the joy of discovery becomes a joy in itself. For all scientists like myself, that is the major interest of going into research.”

Nichols keeps the momentum going. At the start of every class, he announces contests and seminars and urges students not to be shy about declaring a research topic. “If you’ve got an interest,” he said one morning recently, “I want to meet with you.”

Chosen outstanding teacher last year by the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, Nichols keeps a hand in research, too. Three hours a day after school, he goes to a laboratory at the University of Southern California where he helps test new drugs for cardiovascular ailments. In addition to Bio-Med, he teaches physiology and health and coordinates the school’s enrichment program for gifted students.

Bio-Med is open to all grade levels and many students try to take the course for four years. Nichols choses the students based on teacher recommendations and their ability to work independently and present their work well orally. There is no grade-average requirement, however.

Demand for the course has grown in the last few years. “I’ve had principals call me and say, ‘Do you realize this kid is not in Bio-Med and he was No. 1 in our school?’ ” Nichols said. “I explain that the problem is space. Last year I had 68 students. This year I have 85. I had to cut that down from 130, and I’m still paring it down.”

Hard Work

Any student who is admitted to the program has hard work ahead. Nichols assigns several book critiques and two 15-page research papers each semester. In addition, each student is required to develop a project to enter in the school’s annual science fair, usually staged in April. Some students say it is more difficult to win in their own fair than in an outside contest.

Nichols also brings in guest speakers who, in the past, have included a Nobel Prize winner from Caltech, a noted pathologist involved in AIDS research and a UCLA psychiatrist. He also urges students to attend outside events, such as student science seminars at local colleges, and he takes them on field trips several times a year.

Whenever possible, he pairs the more advanced students with research scientists at nearby hospitals and universities. These students work after school, on weekends and during summer vacation, assisting the scientists with their projects or sometimes creating their own experiments. Afterward, they present their findings orally to the class. Nichols and the class critique the presentation, which Nichols said helps to prepare the student for facing the judges in competition.

No one is required to enter an outside contest but most want to. For example, Gabriel Munoz, a freshman interested in astronomy and engineering, has been in Bio-Med for only a few weeks but hopes to compete.

Nichols said the emphasis is not on winning, however. The goal of the class, in his view, is “exposure, exposure, exposure. They hear scientists, they read about the philosophy of science . . . and, hopefully, they will develop an interest in science.”

In fact, Nichols said he makes a point of discussing failure because it is an integral part of the scientific process. “Students think a scientist comes up with an idea and just proves it. They don’t know Thomas Edison had to go through 10,000 experiments before he came up with the incandescent light bulb.”

Recently, he persuaded a student whose experiment fizzled to enter the project in the school science fair anyway. “At the very least, it eliminated a possibility,” he said. “The judges were impressed by that.”