Sprouting young scientists

GUTS program exposes middle-school students to the world of science, computers and critical thinking

Sue Vorenberg | The New Mexican

4/24/2008 - 4/25/08

LOS ALAMOS — Throngs of Santa Fe middle schoolers poured through the Bradbury Science Museum looking a bit like water trying to overtop a large, complicated dam.

They trickled into corners, playing with interactive exhibits about computers, physics and the history of Los Alamos National Laboratory, then crowded around Gordon McDonough, museum educator, to watch a demonstration about radiation.

Only slowly, watching the 80-or-so kids from the Growing Up Thinking Scientifically program as they pondered the scientific coolness of everything around them, did it become apparent that this was no ordinary group on a field trip.

"How many pits will the lab make a year?" one asked McDonough, referring to the explosive cores of nuclear bombs made by Los Alamos.

"Why does the lab make those here?" another asked.

McDonough, drawn into an in-depth conversation with the 6th-to-8th graders about how the Department of Energy is transforming the nuclear weapons complex, smiled in amusement as he answered.

"This is Santa Fe, and Santa Fe kids just have a very different outlook," McDonough later said, adding that he grew up in Santa Fe. "There were some very interesting questions also about accidents that happen here. I explained we're not unlike any other place that employs lots of people, and accidents sometimes happen because of that."

The trip to Los Alamos on Monday was a culmination of the GUTS program, founded last year as a way to expose Santa Fe kids to science, computers and critical thinking.

Kids in the program meet after school and study a range of topics, such as how epidemics spread, how ecosystems work and the complex planning involved in evacuating a town or building during an emergency, said Nick Bennett, a part-time science teacher and computer consultant who volunteers for the program, which is in part sponsored by the Santa Fe Institute.

"The kids will, through various kinds of explorations, learn to see the world in a different way," Bennett said. "We go on field trips, we make computer models, we also do projects and make presentations."

The groups are organized around school semesters, with an intensified summer program that runs from June 9-20.

One goal is to make the program a feeder for the Adventures in Supercomputing Challenge, a yearlong program for high-school kids, who make teams and work on projects that use a supercomputer, Bennett said.

Those teams — which presented their final projects on Monday and Tuesday — compete for scholarships and prizes, and many former participants even end up working at the national laboratories or going on to other prominent scientific jobs.

"That's the direction we want to take these kids in," Bennett said.

And that's the direction a majority of the kids already appear to be heading.

Mercedes Downing, a 14-year-old 8th grader at Capshaw Middle School, said she feels lucky to have been in GUTS. She's getting excited about the Supercomputing Challenge next year, and even has her next project figured out — it will be a detailed ecosystem model, she said.

"This year in GUTS I learned how to incorporate ecosystems with computer programming, and I'm getting much better at programming," she said. "For the Supercomputing Challenge next year I want to improve on that, looking at toxic waste. The model will look at how if toxic waste has been introduced in the environment, how does the environment change, how does it affect different species and how does it affect the food cycle."

Another 14-year-old 8th grader at Capshaw, Jeff Sward, said he might do the Supercomputing Challenge next year, but added that really what he's most interested in is learning how nuclear power plants work.

"I kinda joined GUTS because it was an extra science thing, and my science classes weren't challenging me enough," he said. "This program does. And I want to do more next year. I'd like to get more into nuclear power and other aspects of science."

After they graduate from Santa Fe High School, the two said they'd like to go on to some sort of careers in science.

In the meantime, though, they said they hope more people in the community will help GUTS, so it can help other kids like them.

"This is a very important program that teaches us things we really need to know," Mercedes said. "We are the future and this helps us. I'd also like to say to anybody who reads this article — if you could donate money, that would be awesome."

Those interested in the program for their kids or as volunteers should call the Santa Fe Institute at 984-8800.

Contact Sue Vorenberg at 986-3072 or svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.