ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Catalyst for Curiosity

Bugs, plants and other living things have always held a particular fascination for the children of the world. A UC Irvine professor has found a way to build on that curiosity this summer to engage minority students, mostly Latino, in a fine science program.

Financed by several grants, Dr. Eloy Rodriguez developed the program at UCI for 60 kindergarten to third-grade children to help them grasp complicated concepts and theories of science. They gather at the beaches and tide pools of Orange County to study sea creatures. Also, there is a more advanced program for 60 high school students that includes laboratory work.

Rodriguez developed the program because, as a young Latino student who showed promise as a scientist, he was advised to attend vocational trade school. Luckily, he ignored the advice and went on to study biology and phytochemistry. But he is concerned that minority students are still being stereotyped and ignored in the classroom, partly because their language skills may not be up to par. To avoid that problem, the UCI program, called Kids Inventing and Discovering Science, has a common-sense solution: It is offered in both English and Spanish.

The program inspires students by presenting scientific concepts in an interesting manner and by providing role models. Most of the teachers selected are Latino, and all are bilingual. An important part of the program is parental participation, the lack of which has been cited by U.S. Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos as a primary reason for failure of Latino students in school. Rodriguez has encouraging news: Latino parents, if approached properly, are eager to participate.

Because the program is conducted in a university setting, the children have use of highly sophisticated equipment and laboratories that would not be available to them in their own schools. The program no doubt will give them a boost in their studies during the regular school year. Given the alarming dropout rate among Latinos, it’s a welcome prospect.