Bright Ideas Become Class Acts

As a junior high science teacher years ago, Brandon Austel was stunned by the number of students he met who weren’t interested in science and had never been exposed to tools as basic as microscopes and scales.

Austel vowed then to one day teach children about the wonders of science by bringing playful--and instructive--lessons into their classrooms.

Now, as a science teacher at Van Nuys High School, Austel is making good on the pledge. Twice a week, he and 30 of his own teenage students introduce fourth- and fifth-graders to fizzy, gooey experiments in a program that has drawn enough praise from administrators to help Austel clinch a bus to transport his group.

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, the students clamber aboard their bus with bottles of glue, boxes of magnets, cartons of marbles and other supplies, then fan out to classrooms at nearby Valerio Street Elementary and Van Nuys Elementary.

There, they lead children through one of nearly a dozen experiments--studying buoyancy, for example, by filling floating clay boats with the marbles. Or the subtle differences in the molecular structure of solids and liquids by mixing a glue and borax solution into Silly Putty-like balls. Or examining the light spectrum by peering at miniature rainbows through prisms.

“Science is not just done by guys in white lab coats at universities,” said Austel, who has spent a dozen years teaching science in the Los Angeles Unified School District. “It’s all around us, in questions as simple as, ‘Why does your light bulb glow when you turn a switch?’ ”

The classes, which supplement the minimum two hours of weekly science instruction for the children, have become a mainstay at the elementary schools, where teachers say they lack the equipment and personnel to conduct frequent experiments.

Austel and his students, they say, provide a welcome source of instructors.

“A lot of my students are taking a greater interest in science because it’s presented in such a fun way,” said Van Nuys Elementary teacher Lisa Struhl, who teaches 32 fourth- and fifth-graders. “They are getting individualized attention.”

During a recent visit, Austel’s students helped Struhl’s youngsters combine glue and borax.

The young students “oohed” and “ahhed” as their concoctions became stretchy and thick. A drop of food coloring and--presto!--the elastic white blobs became bubble-gum pink and lime green.

“This is the coolest thing I ever did,” said fourth-grader Rudy Davila, 10, as he tossed his creation against a tabletop and watched it spread like a pancake. “I want to do science every day.”

Classmate Mary Chavarria could barely contain her excitement.

“I’m going to play with it the whole day and never go to sleep,” she said.

At the end of the period, Austel’s students explained that the youngsters had created a cross-link polymer, telling them that the borax solution caused the molecules in the glue to group together and slow down, thickening the glue into a substance that lay somewhere between a solid and a liquid.

“Everyone understand how it works?” 11th-grader Uriel Herrera called out after he explained the science behind the fun. Most of the students nodded yes.

Such classes have earned Austel’s program a loyal following since he launched it three years ago with just seven Van Nuys High students.

The older students serve as role models and the experiments add a real-life dimension to abstract concepts contained in books.

“Our children are always saying, ‘When I get to high school, I want to be one of the science kids,’ ” said Cindy Blanks, the science resource teacher at Van Nuys Elementary. “These are kids doing great things for other kids.”

The high school students, who teach simplified versions of their own science experiments with Austel, say they must fully understand the schoolwork to teach the subject. And working with children brings another unexpected benefit: a sense of responsibility.

“We learn to be patient with the kids,” said senior Samira Sadrarhami, 17. “It takes them longer to learn stuff. It’s a really good experience for us.”

Austel’s supporters include Yvonne Davis, the district’s regional administrator in Van Nuys. She arranged for the bus that transports Austel and his students this year, picking up the $4,000 tab with discretionary funds.

Davis said she is impressed by Austel’s creativity, persistence and enthusiasm. Austel spends weekends scouring swap meets, garage sales, toy stores and other places to buy gyroscopes, strobe lights, electric motors, buzzers and other gadgets--at his own expense. He figures he has spent about $3,000 of his own money on equipment.

Austel showed up at Davis’ office 2 1/2 years ago seeking funding for supplies. Davis granted $350 and recalls how Austel returned to show her the load of goods he had purchased, including prisms, magnets and tops.

“I was impressed with his love of science,” Davis recalled. “He talked about science like I never had it when I was a little kid. He was asking for ways to make science come alive for kids.”

The two kept in touch and Austel returned last year seeking a bus after his program grew too large for his students to safely drive themselves to the schools--a request that Davis gladly fulfilled.

Davis said her office will pay for a bus again next year, which comes as good news to Austel. He had considered ending the classes if he could not provide safe transportation for his students.

“As long as I’m here and he needs a bus, I will support that,” said Davis, who received more than 180 letters last year from Van Nuys Elementary students praising the science classes. “I already know his track record and how good he is with the students.”