Science in the Summer interests Philly area students

The students put on their protective glasses as they place a magnetic bar on top of a plastic bag filled with iron particles to take note of how protons, neutrons, and electrons work.

This isn't the typical science laboratory and the 16 team members aren't conventional scientists.

"You're all scientists," said Andrew Dunakin, 40, to the fourth through sixth graders at the Lehigh Avenue Branch of the Free Library. "If anyone ever asks you why you're asking so many questions, just tell them, 'Then how am I supposed to learn anything?' "

Dunakin, a former science teacher, is a guidance counselor at Northeast High School. For the summer, he joins other educators to teach science in libraries around the region through the Science in the Summer program hosted by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"One hundred percent of the kids leave here knowing something, plus it makes science fun," Dunakin said.

Created by a Glaxo scientist, Science in the Summer is meant to prevent the "summer slide," when children forget what they learned during the school year, and to give second through sixth grade students a chance to participate in hands-on experiments.

The program, in its 24th year, began with 10 libraries in Montgomery County and has grown to involve 100,000 students from throughout the Philadelphia region.

In the sessions this summer, each county has a theme: bioscience in Montgomery, chemistry in Delaware, genetics in Chester, oceanography in Bucks, and electricity in Philadelphia.

"America needs an educated workforce," said MaryLinda Andrews, 58, director of Community Partnerships for GlaxoSmithKline, "and we hope that our program will not only spark a lifelong interest in science, but, who knows, one day they may end up working at GSK."

For Damon Motley, 7, attending the program at the library gave him his first taste of scientific learning. "It's going to come true," said Damon, a second grader at Vale School who is looking forward to taking science classes when he gets to a higher grade. Having done the library experiments, he said, he knows that science will be his favorite subject.

Motley joined with the other children to create a compass from a magnetic metal bar, a needle, and a piece of Styrofoam. In another experiment, the teacher put his hand over a Van de Graaff generator, the metal globe that shows how electricity can travel through the body. Bursts of laughter could be heard throughout the library as the students watched while the hairs on Dunakin's hand stood up.

"That's so cool," said Nychole McLeod, 9, as she placed her hand on the ball.

Glaxo spends about $400,000 a year to run the program, which is free to participants. It also provides a grant for participating libraries to buy science books.

About 5,000 children are expected to participate in the program, which ends Aug. 5. Parents may register their children at local libraries. Each week, the library hosts four sessions, two for second through third grades and two for fourth through sixth grades.

In Philadelphia, budget cuts have trimmed the program to two days per week.

Openings for student participation are available but limited. For information on which libraries are participating, go to www.scienceinthesummer.com