Stretching Mental MusclesFor students willing to put forth exceptional effort and invest their "free" time in rigorous study, preparing for an academic competition offers the opportunity to challenge themselves--and maybe even change the world. |
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| Michael Li's investigation involves rigorous work, focusing on sustainable fusion in a vacuum chamber. | |
Portland, Oregon--Try passing off some casual observation to 17-year-old Michael Li--some remark, say, comparing computer science to physics, with the one seeming to involve more abstract thinking and the other, more concrete--and he's likely to give you a reply that's more thoughtful than your bromide deserves:
"I never thought of anything as abstract. When I think of something it seems to flow freely for me. I always think of it as a trick of language, whether something is 'abstract' or not. I suppose you could define 'concrete' as anything that's tangible, but I suppose we create tangible models, like for the atom, that are apocryphal. Electrons don't orbit around a nucleus. We just make them look like they're orbiting around the nucleus because that reminds us of the planets orbiting around the sun. We all know it's incorrect, but... it's the easy way to visualize it."
He elaborates: "What really happens is those are electron clouds, but electron clouds are not very nice to think about. Electrons don't exist at any particular point at any particular time for absolute certainty, they're just probability functions. I try to think about things as accurately as I can, so I try not to think about atoms as a model. I start synthesizing it into this mathematical idea that there is a probability that an electron exists somewhere here."
Ah. Something one of Li's teachers has said comes to mind.
"We need to take kids seriously. If we don't, they won't take themselves seriously. Kids rise to the level of expectations," said Bill Lamb, whose expectations are legendary among students and alumni of Portland's Oregon Episcopal School.
For 20 years, Lamb, who has a doctorate in science education from The University of Texas at Austin, has taught chemistry, physics, and jazz band at this private preparatory school, situated on a wooded and lushly planted hill southwest of the city. Each year, he helps students choose science projects that will not only be worthy of state and national science competitions, but will involve them in investigations that have the potential to contribute new findings to the field of science.
These investigations tend to involve more time and more rigorous work than can be squeezed into the regular school day. The students who pursue such projects display the dedication and drive seen in champion athletes and award-winning musicians. For them, the final school bell of the day isn't a signal to relax; it's time to shift into high gear.
When Lamb first filled the Norman Winningstad chair in physical sciences at OES in 1982, he began working to change the curriculum, rearranging the courses into an unorthodox sequence--physics, chemistry, then biology. "To understand 21st century biology, kids have to understand chemistry. To teach modern chemistry, the kids need a background in energy, electrostatics, and motion of particles," he explains. He also made independent research projects a requirement. Today, science projects account for 25 percent of students' final grades, and they must present their findings publicly at the school's annual science fair or, as many do, at state and national science competitions.
In fact, when Lamb arrived in Oregon only to discover that the state didn't have a science competition affiliated with the prestigious International Science and Engineering Fair (now funded by Intel), he helped found the Northwest Science Exposition. This is an ISEF-affiliated fair for Oregon and Southwest Washington students who want to vie for national honors and hefty college scholarships.
The science projects and competitions require a sometimes staggering commitment from students, parents, and teachers like Lamb who volunteer much free time to shepherd students through their investigations and public presentations. For hyper-bright students like Li, the greatest reward for spending after-school hours in further study is simply the chance to stretch their already considerable abilities, to give their intellect free rein. And those parents and teachers who race to keep them challenged do so because they know the stakes are high.
To Lamb, taking kids seriously means instilling in them a confidence that they can make a difference in the world, by expecting them to. Because enrollment at OES is by competitive application, all of the students here are high achieving, but even for them, Lamb can be intimidating. His sharp intellect and wit--and, sometimes, tongue --are softened by a roly-poly physique and a gentle Southern accent exposing his Mississippi roots. While he can make a student who's lapsed into sloppy thinking or study habits quake, he also can win students' gratitude and affection.
"He does have a unique personality," says Li. "He works really hard for all the students. My freshman year, I noticed after school he would literally stay here until five o'clock, and even then you couldn't talk to him because the line of people waiting to see him stretched out the science office door, so you would just have to wait in the line. He would take printer paper, and he would just write out huge explanations of everything. And, of course, he did that for me with my science project. He's great."
Lamb is the first to say that the small class sizes at OES--he has just 16 students in his physics class--enable him to spend more time with individual students than he could at a public school where class sizes are typically twice as large. This is a privileged and high-achieving learning environment, no doubt. Yet, not all students at OES enjoy every advantage. Until high school, Li went to public school. He lives with only one parent, his mom, who works full time in commercial lending. Each day after school, while others slip into a waiting SUV, Lexus, or Jaguar, Li walks past the long line of gleaming cars to catch a public bus home.
Li's mom, Trina Chen, is also earnest about her son's intellectual life. In middle school, he spent his free time checking out books from the library on Einstein's theory of relativity and asking to go to a school where he would be more challenged. She helped him research college preparatory schools in Oregon and California, and they wound up choosing OES. On her off-hours, she drives her son to piano lessons (another passion for which he's won awards, including the honor of performing with the Oregon Symphony), meetings 30 miles away with his science mentor who loans him the use of specialized technology, to science competitions, internships, and on it goes.
"It's a lot of work. You have to be there for that. You have to do the driving, the financial end of it. Sometimes, you really don't have a life. But you make your priorities. Kids only have a few years to grow up. You can't say, 'Wait a couple of years, OK? Let me enjoy my life.'"
Ninth-grader Neil Lakin came to OES in the sixth grade. This is his first year studying with Lamb.
"He's a very, very smart guy," says Lakin. "He expects so much from freshmen, but... he knows they can do what he expects. He is probably one of my favorite teachers. He does take you seriously, and when he takes you seriously you kind of realize you're not doing physics for the sake of doing OK in class; you're doing physics for the sake of practical application. Dr. Lamb expects you to make a difference, to do a project that might make a difference in the world."
In fact, Lakin's science project involves investigating the effectiveness of mixing a polymer, normally used for making dental impressions, with metal powders to create a new kind of radiation shield for treating patients with cancerous skin tumors. He e-mailed Frederick Eichmiller, a leading dental researcher and director of the American Dental Association Health Foundation's Paffenbarger Research Center. The scientist has kept in touch, advising Lakin on the design of his investigation. Lakin has used the linear accelerator at Oregon Health & Science University to conduct tests, and his findings already suggest that his shields may focus radiation more narrowly at a tumor, protecting healthy skin.
This spring, Lakin was a dark-horse contestant in the Oregon Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at Western Oregon University in Monmouth--the only freshman competing. As he stepped to the front of the lecture hall, before a panel of judges and 60 observers, a bird flew in the window. As Lakin presented his findings, being careful to make eye contact with judges, gesture appropriately, and make use of his multimedia visual aids, the bird flailed about the room. Lakin tried to stay focused. When he reached his conclusion and asked for questions, nothing could be heard but the flapping of the bird's wings. No questions from the judges, none from the audience. Lakin gathered his materials and sat down.
"I thought that was not a good sign," he says. "I didn't think I did very well."
But he had. He placed in the top five, winning a trip to the 40th National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in San Diego. He was the only freshman in the country to win the honor.
It's through such trying experiences, says Lamb, that students learn skills they'll carry with them into the adult world. "They need to learn how to interact with the public no matter what career they go into," he says. As they do their research and present their ideas to others, "they learn to be questioned, to receive feedback, to interact with similarly motivated kids. Working independently is hard. It involves a whole lot of skills. The first time you do that, you fall on your face. One of my jobs is to help them get through that."
The meaningfulness of their projects may soften the disappointment of not winning. Since his freshman year, Michael Li has been testing a high-energy device that he says has produced sustainable nuclear fusion using the simple vacuum tube technology of the television. This mechanism is being hotly investigated by just a few scientists. Li believes some of his own work is original, and he expects this research to occupy him well into college. But he's still sometimes overlooked by judges at science competitions despite the advanced nature of his work, or, because of it.
"This is one of the smartest kids I've ever taught," says Lamb after a recent competition in which Li was passed over. "He's working at such a high level, but he didn't do a good job of communicating his ideas. People are accustomed to not taking kids seriously. There's the assumption that if they are doing high-level work, the kids couldn't have done the work on their own."
So, even while Li continues to sharpen his presentation skills--in fact, just this spring he won first place in physics and alternate in best of fair at the Northwest Science Expo, qualifying him to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Louisville--he's most content to grapple with his experiments.
"I guess winning isn't everything. I like working on my project anyway, and it's fun to talk about it even if you don't win, because there's a certain amount of satisfaction to share with people the work you've done so far."
The more protracted the experiment, the greater the satisfaction in getting it done, says Lakin. "You really don't want to back out. You want to get it done, and done well. When you're working on it, it does cause a lot of stress. It's really tough, especially if you're also playing sports. It always feels really good to get it done. It's also really interesting to see the results of what you've been working on for several months."
Those months are often filled with solitary hours working in the school's lab or in family basements and garages, and conferring with teachers, parents, mentors, and professionals in the field. It calls for being self-directed and persistent.
"OES gives you a lot of independence," says Lakin, "but for all the independence they give you, they give you quite a bit of responsibility."
While that responsibility can weigh on young shoulders, it also can stir achievers to go even farther, to think more deeply, persevere, and regard themselves as doers in the world. A wise teacher will know when to spur them on and when all that's needed is to let go of the reins.
"Sometimes, the best work I do for students is not to be with them," says Lamb. "Think about that."
POSTSCRIPT: At the Northwest Science Expo held in Portland in March, students from Oregon Episcopal School captured 18 first-place awards, including best of fair in both the individual and team competitions. Individual winner was junior Korri Thiessen who studied how deficient DNA repair can lead to premature nerve cell death. Team competition was won by Julia Baldwin and Chelsea Gokay, both juniors, who devised a study showing
top students commonly perceive themselves to be doing worse than their teachers' assessment. Nearly 600 students from Oregon and Washington competed. 
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