'Unique' camp opens Monday

By Derrick Engoy
Summer Forty-Niner

The best way to learn is through experience. Students entering grades four through seven and aspiring teachers have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience at Summer Science at the Beach 2000, a three-week program beginning July 17 at Cal State Long Beach.

"This is the pilot year," said Angela Adams, the program coordinator.  "It's a two-part program.  It's a professional development program for teachers and a program for students to get into science."

Held in the Peterson Hall buildings, students studying for their credentials and those who have recently obtained one will work with the Long Beach Unified School District to prepare their lessons for the children.  The two weeks following, the children will go into the laboratories and get a sense of what it feels like to handle physical science outside of a textbook.

"The kids will have hands-on, intensive, experience they don't get in school," Adams said.  "And the teachers will take the material they've learned into their classrooms, giving them more confidence to teach."

There will be 12 teachers from the LBUSD who will be assisted by students in the College of Natural Science and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Studies who will collaborate in teaching these individuals, according to Elizabeth Ambos, acting associate dean for the College of Natural Science and Mathematics.

"I think it's a great program," Ambos said.  "I have a young son.  If he didn't have a full summer, he would be in the program."

There are more than 50 students registered for the two-week program, with more space available, according to Adams.  For months, the coordinators sent out brochures to local schools and posted advertisements in local newspapers.

The cost to register is $250. The fee includes all supplies needed, including a backpack and take-home science experiments, T-shirts and a social family event.

Because the coordinators feel the program is  beneficial for young students, they try to offer scholarships and financial aid through various donations given by local groups, including Cal Fed, Adams said.

Usually, those in the free-lunch program at their schools are looked at first.

"For some of these kids, they haven't seen a college campus," Adams said. "This gives them the opportunity to see what it's like."