What began 19 years ago as a way to get more science resources into classrooms has turned into one of Atlanta’s best-kept secrets. So says Barbara Baumstark, professor emerita of molecular genetics at Georgia State University and program director of the Bio Bus, a mobile science lab that brings lessons to students on wheels.
“At the time, I found a lot of teachers had little resources,” said Baumstark. “So I started the program not so much because I was a scientist or professor but because I was a parent. I’d often end up leading experiments for a class and wound up leaving something I needed in the office. So I thought, if we had a bus and could drive it around and not hit anybody, it would be good advertising for Georgia State.”
Turns out, Baumstark has had to do little advertising. The university gave her $100,000 to build a science bus, and worked with schools to develop content for young students. Then the big break came in the summer of 2000 when a NASA-sponsored science festival at Centennial Olympic Park needed a last-minute replacement program.
“We got the call on a Wednesday and had to be ready by Friday,” Baumstark recalled. “All that day, we had teachers, parents and kids coming in, and we started getting phone calls. It’s never stopped. So we never really had to advertise.”
Today, Baumstark and five staff members work with about 30 graduate students from various majors each semester to take the Bio Bus out to schools around the state. They’re often on the road by 7 a.m., seven days a week.
The buses have room for about 12 people to squeeze in for a lesson. “So as we’ve evolved, we’ve ended up doing more in the classrooms,” said Baumstark. “And we also do things festival style, in the library, say, where we might have four or five things set up at once.”
The lessons were designed in collaboration with science teachers to meet their needs and to align with their course standards. The range of topics includes several that draw oohs and aahs from kids. Microscopic animals and a DNA forensics puzzle involving an escaped hamster are big hits, especially with second and third graders. Another is “DNA Is Elementary” with activities that draw on students’ math and language acquisition skills.
“We talk about what is the same and what is different, and show pictures of dogs and their owners in a matching activity,” said program manager Michelle Ventura Ezeoke. “We talk about what the structure of DNA looks like and get hands-on with pipe cleaners, tubes and dowels to recreate the double helix. We’ve found they receive the information well while they’re having a good time.”
Since its inception, the Bio Bus has worked with approximately 286,000 students. And it doesn’t slow down after school ends for the year.
“When summer starts, we have time to do other things like informal science and projects that get families involved,” said Baumstark “We’ve got some NIH (National Institutes of Health) funding now to do that.”
And not all the programs will be about biology, as the name Bio Bus might suggest, she added. “We went with ‘bio’ really because Bio Bus is just so alliterative.”
Information on GSU’s Bio Bus is online at biobus.gsu.edu.
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Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.
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