UW-Rock County attempts to end the math and science brain drain by nurturing young minds
(Published Saturday, September 29, 2007 11:55:36 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Frank Schultz fschultz@gazetteextra.com
Morgan Jass was engaged in an effort to keep America strong Saturday.
But to her, it was just plain fun.
"There's that element of surprise. You never know what you're going to find," said Morgan of Janesville's Edison Middle School. "It's, like, totally awesome."
Morgan was talking about science, and she wasn't the only one bubbling with enthusiasm in a laboratory at UW-Rock County.
Morgan was one of more than 80 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from around the county who attended STEM.
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It also stands for a problem: America isn't producing enough scientists, engineers and mathematicians-people who play a major role in fueling the country's economic engine.
The United States has imported a large number of foreign Ph.D.s to fill slots that Americans aren't available for, said Kim Kostka, a UW-Rock chemistry professor
Nothing wrong with foreign scientists, Kostka said, but it's a warning sign. It indicates that the pipeline that funnels American young people into those vital disciplines is drying up.
And that comes at a time when analytical talents are in greater demand than ever from burgeoning industries such as biotechnology.
University graduate programs are in danger of closing because they lack the graduate students who are key to getting basic research done, Kostka said.
The ultimate danger is that the United States loses its competitive edge, especially to Pacific Rim countries, which are beginning to attract the world-class talent.
"We're starting to lose our ability to attract that talent. We want the really talented ones," Kostka said.
So UW-Rock, like many institutions around the country, set up a slate of courses designed to spark the scientific interest of local kids.
Kostka and biology professor Andrea Lukowiak taught a course called "Who Ate My Lunch?"
Students were shown a bag lunch belonging to UW-Rock student Bob Crandall. Some lipstick-wearing person had eaten it. The kids' job was to identify the culprit.
They did so by separating the dyes in lipstick from five suspects and the lipstick left on a paper napkin.
They also compared the fingerprints on a plastic cup to those of the suspects.
They did that all in the space of 75 minutes, and they appeared to have a great time doing it.
"This is cool," said sixth-grader Sierra Yanchik of Edison Middle School. "It's just the feeling of-you're the one doing it and seeing how it happens."
Others agreed they like the hands-on approach "because you actually get to see what you're doing-more fun than reading a textbook," said Edison seventh-grader Emily Richardson.
"It feels like we're on 'CSI' or something, seriously. It's like whodunit?" said Morgan Gray, an Edison eighth-grader.
"You can solve mysteries," agreed Kasey Mylin of Milton Middle School.
The program was just a taste of the careers students might want to aspire to.
Other sessions offered fun activities in math, engineering, physics and biology.
Engineering professor Dale Buechler spoke to all the students at the opening session, telling them that the direction they took Saturday might not be exactly what they end up doing.
"I encourage you to investigate, get involved and see what you really like," Buechler said.
Emily was one who learned that it pays to follow Buechler's advice. She attended STEM last year, when her choices leaned to the mathematical.
She has found she prefers science, where "you're totally outside the box. In math, there's always a solution, always an answer. Science isn't always like that."
