Class Notes : School News: An occasional look at South Bay classroom news : Mobile Lab Offers Students a Hands-On Connection to Science

The Science Connection, a 40-foot mobile laboratory, rolled into Jefferson Elementary School in Redondo Beach last week to give fifth- and sixth-graders hands-on science experience.

The laboratory, equipped with computers, lasers and state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, is part of a seven-year project sponsored by Southern California Edison and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to get students interested in science.

The lab allowed Jefferson’s students to study force and friction by lifting each other on pulleys, to calculate the speed of light using lasers, and to measure sound vibrations while listening to the blastoff of the space shuttle Discovery.

Lorraine Gutierrez, instructor and program coordinator for Southern California Edison, and two instructors from JPL led experiments in the trailer, which is the only one of its kind.

“We try to make the students feel like scientists,” she said. “We loan them clipboards and hand out activity sheets for them to record data.”

Fifth-grader Lewis Areyan said his favorite experiment was measuring sound vibrations while listening to the shuttle blast off. His classmate, Stephanie Simper, said she preferred measuring temperatures, using computers.

School Principal Mary Ann Stott said the students had been preparing for the mobile classroom visit for about four weeks. They had studied light, sound, forces, friction and energy transformation in a special science program that culminated in the arrival of the Science Connection.

“Their classroom training was fun, but this was big-time,” Stott said. “This is an extension of their classroom experience in a memorable way.”

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Five Westchester High School students were recognized in the 1992 UC Santa Barbara Prize Competition in Mathematics and Sciences last month, making them eligible to take advanced examinations in those areas and claim the credit on their college applications.

About 6,000 students from 192 California high schools participated in the competition, which is sponsored by the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. The students took tests in mathematics, biology, physics, computer science and chemistry. Only 563 scored in the top 10% and qualified for the advanced tests.

Sophomore Ryan Song was one of 153 students who was eligible for the advanced biology test; 2,001 students competed.

In chemistry, only 109 out of 1,033 students qualified for the advanced test. The other Westchester High candidates were seniors Christine Dauphine, Harry Demas and Jena Mori, and junior Dara Levy.

The five students took the advanced placement tests in November and will know the results any day now, said Esther Hugo, college adviser at the school.

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The Hawthorne School District received a new set of wheels this holiday season--a 12-passenger van donated by Chevron in El Segundo.

The company retired the 1989 Ford van from its fleet and donated it as the first step in developing a relationship with the school district, said Lani Marshall, company spokeswoman.

“To have that donation like that, in this time of financial need, is a boon for us,” said Sara Sellars, spokeswoman for the district.

It will be used to transport students on field trips and to take employees to staff development activities and other intra-district functions, Sellars said.