Students get taste of real science

Afsha Bawany

Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 9:36 a.m.

A new science program at Silverado High School is getting students out of the classroom and into the "real world."

It is designed to educate students about environmental and health issues related to air quality.

On Thursday the first phase of the program began with a field trip to an air quality monitoring site in Henderson, where a group of 12 honors science students joined the staff of the Clark County Department of Air Quality Management to get a lesson about "Air Quality 101."

The students collected data from dust and dirt samples and are now working on air quality presentations that they will demonstrate to middle school students in October.

"Students generally go to class and they learn certain material from textbooks," said Silverado science teacher Don Curry, who helped develop the program. "It seems important to me that students be involved in the community in which they live so they are in touch with life outside the classroom. It makes a lot of sense."

The program will continue for a year with more field trips and discussions scheduled, Curry said.

He hopes his students can encourage younger students to become interested in the program so they will to participate when they get to high school.

Silverado Principal Mark Coleman agrees.

"The advantage of a program like this is that it not only exposes kids to the curriculum, but it teaches them how to apply the curriculum," Coleman said. "They are getting hands-on experiences in the world of science."

Since air quality is a major concern in the Las Vegas Valley, Coleman said he couldn't think of a better way to start exposing students to the field so that their generation can begin thinking of ways to improve air quality.