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Spring 2007
PMB 98/198
2 or 3 Unit(s)

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community service /
field work course

About the Course:

This goal of this course is to put together an experiment-based science alternative for the Willard Middle School after school program.

Groups of 3-4 will work together to develop lesson plans that will ultimately be presented at Willard. The DeCal class periods will be spent discussing experiences at the school and critiquing the next week’s experiment. We encourage the groups to be creative with their lessons, choosing demonstrations that they find particularly fascinating or match their academic interests. Past experiments have included: examining the effect of various drugs on Daphnia, playing with glycerine bubbles, a crime solving lab (a la CSI), and making a home-made fire extinguisher!

This is a particularly important class because Willard is academically one of the lowest performing schools in the area. Standardized test scores show that Willard falls below the state average. A large proportion of the students come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds and fall on a low rung of the socioeconomic ladder. Despite being just down the street from one of the world’s finest universities, Willard students do not typically aspire to go to college. This DeCal’s purpose is to stimulate passion for science, or education in a more general sense, in students who are not used to thinking of learning as more than a chore.

How to Enroll:

There are two sections for this class:
Monday/Wednesday DeCal: M 6-7:30 in 24 Warren Willard visits: W 4-6 at Willard MS (on Telegraph) (required at least twice a semester)

Tuesday/Thursday DeCal: Tu 6- 7:30 in 321 Haviland Willard visits: Th 4-6 at Willard (at least twice a semester)

This is a variable unit course. For two units, you must attend Willard’s afterschool program twice. For three units, you must attend four or more times.