Squeamish science

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- Brown eyes flashing with excitement, 9-year-old Shanta

Purdy proudly held up her perfect find: the skull of a rat, complete with

two long, thin curving teeth.

The skull, she explained, came from the owl pellet she was studying.

She discovered that owls scoop up their prey and separate the edible

from the nonedible, which they spit out as pellets.

“I found out that owls have two stomachs,” Shanta said. “One is to

smoosh up all the food and the other is to keep bones and fur in.”

Shanta is one of nearly 400 Newport-Mesa Unified School District

students attending the summer science institute camp at Davis Education

Center in Costa Mesa.

The science institute, which rotates between life science, physical

science and earth science each year, is designed as a development program

for teachers, explained Charlene Metoyer, the principal of the camp.

There are a multitude of hands-on science experiments for children,

and the camp itself acts as a hands-on training for teachers.

“Elementary teachers are usually specialists in reading and math,”

Metoyer said. “This allows them to become more comfortable with science

lessons, which they are usually more timid with.”

For teachers, the institute started in June with intensive training

sessions Saturday.

When school let out, the children joined in, coming to camp Tuesday

through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon for three weeks.

The many science experiments conducted at the camp will be integrated

into teachers’ regular classroom lessons during the upcoming school year.

This year, the camp, which is open to all Newport-Mesa instructors

teaching kindergarten through sixth grade, drew 42 teachers from nearly

all 22 public elementary schools and several private schools.

Student applications from across the district totaled 800 before a

lottery was drawn to narrow the number to 400.

Having all signed up for the camp, very few students were squeamish

about dissecting squids or starfish, having snail races or even using

honey to get the snails to lick their fingers.

The life science camp this year will conclude with a trip to OCC

laboratories, where marine biology professors will walk students through

even more slimy experiments.

Some students can’t wait. In fact, 11-year-old John Dang on Thursday

did not want to give up his science project after it was complete.

“But I liked my squid,” said John, who was reluctant to throw out the

sea creature’s remains when the time came. “It was really fun because it

was really slimy. And I got a bunch of body parts.”