A.T.O.M.S. outreach program connects kids and science

Aristotle said, “Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach,” and the students in the A.T.O.M.S. science outreach program from Cranston High School West are a perfect example of that philosophy. Thanks to a collaboration between Susan Weber, a fourth-grade teacher at Rhodes Elementary School, and Jo-Ann Mangiarelli, a high school science teacher at Cranston West, students at both grade levels are getting the opportunity to show what they know about science, through the new teaching and learning partnership.

“This past summer I was at a Professional Development Day in August which focused on the new science curriculum standards and elementary, middle and high school educators were all there,” said Mangiarelli. “A few of us from West sat at a table with some of the elementary teachers, and Sue Weber was at our table. We got to talking and we were thinking that it would be neat to have high school kids working with elementary school kids, so at the end of the session I suggested to Susan that we connect further and talk about making that happen.”

Shortly thereafter, Mangiarelli was setting up her classroom before the start of the school year and when she saw Principal Tom Barbieri she ran their idea past him, which received his instant approval.

“He was 100 percent for it,” Mangiarelli said.

Mangiarelli asked her colleagues to ask their upperclassman science students if they were interested in participating, she asked some of her own upperclassman science students if they were interested, and some of those students recruited other interested students, and before she knew it, she had 19 interested students, four juniors and 15 seniors who were ready and willing to help teach the younger students in Weber’s class, which would combine with Stephanie Pearson’s fourth-grade class at Rhodes as well.

The students who have joined the A.T.O.M.S. project are Rachael Beneduce, Jacquelin Carrascoza, Anika Clark, Kenny Corsetti, Aris Degaitis, Gianna DeMarco, Kiovany Diaz, Heather DiFazio, Taleen Donoyan, Shannon Feng, Brinley Foley, Mirim Ji, Alice Lim, Kristian Molina, Caitlyn O’Brien, Melissa Pellegrino, Sophia Perrotta, Anna Phou and Jillian Zayat.

“The kids made up the A.T.O.M.S. acronym, which stands for Accelerated Teaching of Modern Science,” said Mangiarelli. “They came up with the logo for the t-shirts and it’s really evolved. It’s quite a time commitment both after school and during school, and it’s been such an amazing example of teamwork.”

Once the program was ready to begin and multiple dates for visits had been scheduled, Mangiarelli and her students boarded a bus and headed across town to Rhodes, where the fourth-graders greeted them enthusiastically.

“This has been such an amazing partnership,” said Weber. “The elementary kids look up to the high school kids. It’s as if they are rock stars. The high school kids are so kind and wonderful to the elementary school kids.”

Each time the students from West have visited the fourth-graders at Rhodes, Weber and Pearson have organized their rooms into stations, and organized their students into cooperative learning groups. The high school students work with the groups of elementary students on the stations, helping them to do the experiments and learn more about the science behind what they are doing and seeing.

“The materials that we are using come from a kit that I received for free from National Grid years ago when I attended the NEED workshop,” said Weber. “The kit includes 12 stations, and we are doing three stations with each visit. The kits are very involved, and having the extra sets of hands to help with the stations has been great.”

The students are studying the current science curriculum topics for the fourth grade science curriculum each time they come, such as the various types of energy (kinetic, renewable, thermal, radiant, solar) and even their ice breaker activity on the first day was a scientific activity that involved the discussion of predatory animals.

Mangiarelli is grateful to Weber and Pearson for the work that goes into preparing the classrooms and stations ahead of the high school students’ arrival.

“This is far more work for her than it is for me,” Mangiarelli said. “There is a tremendous amount of work and prep that goes into getting ready for us.”

According to Mangiarelli, the students who come from West are enrolled in a variety of science classes, some of them in three or four different science classes. Many of them are planning science-oriented careers and two out of the group are headed for the military for after their June graduation.

As Mangiarelli, Weber and Pearson circulated through the groups, the students could be heard discussing their experiments in detail, using higher level, critical thinking skills and vocabulary, and watching in awe as the experiments worked, or with disappointment if they did not.

“At the high school level, we know that in science, experiments don’t always work,” said Mangiarelli. “The students have to practice their problem solving skills to figure out why it didn’t work and what might be done differently the next time.”

Sometimes however, the experiment does work, and the students could be heard cheering when they did, and talking about what made it work. As one table celebrated their successful experiment results, a fourth-grade student exclaimed aloud, “It’s like magic,” to which senior A.T.O.M.S. student Melissa Pellegrino replied, “It’s close to magic, it’s science.”