Letter to Editor: Kent County Elementary Schools Need Help

Kent County elementary schools need your help. Because of its relatively small student population, Kent County cannot afford to hire individual teachers for every subject. So local elementary school teachers are required to cover a variety of subjects, including some they didn’t major in. This becomes particularly challenging in the sciences, which include a variety of highly specialized disciplines, from chemistry and geology to biology and physics.A new community-based initiative would provide an opportunity for the scientists among us to show their support for our schools, teachers and students while revisiting the fun experiments that initially attracted them to science. Kent County’s two new elementary school principals, Gina Jachimowicz at Worton Elementary, and Stacey Clark at HH Garnett, are hoping that community volunteers will be willing to help.

The hope is that residents with training and experience in different fields of science will help devise engaging, hands-on experiments that illustrate scientific principles in the subject areas that students are required to master. These experiments would be coordinated to augment the teacher’s lesson plan.

If you loved the TV science shows Watch Mister Wizard or Bill Nye the Science Guy, then you know the youthful joy of curiosity and wonder. For a fun look back, you can check out an early episode of Watch Mister Wizard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4sqjcGUYo.

Not everyone is comfortable leading a classroom of children, and volunteers don’t have to conduct the experiments themselves. Though the novelty of having a visiting instructor can often enliven the classroom, volunteers may elect to simply devise and assemble the experiment and have the teacher conduct the demonstration. Either way, if you’re background is in one of the sciences, then you know things that young students would like to learn.

This program could be a good fit for the cadre of highly educated retirees whose varied careers span a broad range of scientific disciplines. Such professionals can draw from years of experience interesting scientific principles that will help to nurture the love of science among Kent County’s young students. As retirees, they have time available during school hours to share their wisdom and passion for science.

A number of professionals currently employed in scientific fields at local businesses can help too. Since most of the planning and preparation can be accomplished outside of work hours, only the classroom demonstration would require time away from work. I suspect that most of our local employers would gladly give an employee time off to conduct a classroom experiment for young students. Regardless of the career status of volunteers, helping youngsters to appreciate the power of science could be extremely satisfying.

So if you’re interested in helping local teachers and energizing young minds with the wonder of science, please email your contact information, field of expertise and a brief summary of idea(s) that you’d like to share to [email protected]. We’ll send you an outline of the subject areas and scientific concepts covered and try to match each volunteer’s interests to corresponding class assignments.

Today’s youths need a solid understanding of science to succeed in the sophisticated, technologically advanced careers of tomorrow. You can help them get off to a good start.

Zane Carter
Chestertown