June 14, 1996 Contact: Amy Adams or Robert Irion (408) 459-2495; irion@ua.ucsc.edu

UC SANTA CRUZ SCIENTISTS REACH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND THE PUBLIC VIA THE INTERNET

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--The University of California, Santa Cruz, may sit in an isolated hillside forest, but scientists have reached out beyond their campus to schools across the country. Using the Internet, faculty from several scientific fields have shared their expertise with schoolteachers and their classes nationwide, as well as with the local community.

UCSC has a long history of working with local schools to improve science education. Faculty and graduate students loan equipment for class experiments, visit classes, and lead field trips to areas of interest such as Natural Bridges State Beach or local tide pools. Now, with the World Wide Web becoming so prevalent, faculty are able to help students outside the local area. "I think the Internet is a good way for students to get access to experts," says Stanley Flatte, a UCSC professor of physics.

One such Internet interaction involved members of the UCSC Physics Department. This spring, a physics class from a small high school in the cornfields of north-central Illinois contacted the department for help with an assignment. Gerald Castelli, physics teacher at Serena High School, asked his students to use the World Wide Web to answer an assigned question. "I tried to find a question that would be hard to answer from a book," says Castelli. The students were to write a report about why Isaac Newton's 300-year- old classical theories of physics were emphasized in physics classes over Albert Einstein's more modern relativity theories.

Castelli's students browsed the Web in search of answers and came across the UCSC Physics Department's Web page. "At random we took a shot and sent some e-mail," says Castelli. "The next day we had eight or nine responses. I was impressed by the speed and number of responses we got." The students sent follow-up questions to members of the faculty and wrote their reports based on these responses. "The Web was a great way to find experts," says Brian Scheppler, a senior in Castelli's class.

Flatte and physicists Joel Primack, Michael Dine, David Belanger, Bruce Schumm, Peter Scott, and Robert Johnson all sent answers to the students. The scientists replied independently, but they came up with similar answers. They agreed that Newtonian physics is accurate for events people encounter in their everyday lives, such as walking, throwing balls, or flying in planes. It only goes awry in specific circumstances of high energy or velocity. Although Newtonian physics falls short of describing all situations, the researchers commented, it is easier to learn than Einstein's theories and provides a strong foundation for further studies in physics. "Later on, I hope you and your fellow students also learn about relativity and quantum physics, even through we do not know their full range of validity," wrote Primack in his response.

The Physics Department is not alone in using the Internet to work with high schools. Robert Anderson, an associate professor of earth sciences, worked with teacher Nancy White and her class at C. D. Hylton Senior High School in Woodbridge, Virginia, on a project about the motions of windblown sand, a topic in which Anderson specializes.

"We had considerable e-mail banter, first just between the two of us, followed by specific--and rather demanding I might add-- questions from the students," says Anderson. "They got all jazzed up and ended up winning an award for their work." Indeed, the students won first place in SuperQuest 1994, a national math and science competition in which high school students use supercomputers to tackle complex problems. (To view their project on the World Wide Web, go to http://204.122.127.80/superq/sqhylton.htm)

Anderson met White when she was at a meeting in San Francisco. "It was wonderful to meet her," he says. "She had done so much for those kids."

While neither Anderson nor the Physics Department solicited student inquiries, the Astronomy and Astrophysics Department encourages people to write via e-mail with questions. The department's Web page includes a section called "Ask an Astronomer" (http://www.ucolick.org/~mountain/AAA). Included in this page are answers to frequently asked questions about astronomy, as well as a way for people to submit their own inquiries. These can range from questions about what it's like to be an astronomer to specific requests about comets or asteroids that are visible. Postings come from local students and their parents, as well as from Silicon Valley engineers and amateur astronomers across the country.

"I have been surprised at how sophisticated the questions are," says Debra Fischer, one of three graduate students who take turns answering questions. "Sometimes students will write back telling us they got an 'A' on their paper and thanking us for our help."

Editor's note: You may reach the scientists as follows: Robert Anderson--(408) 459-3342 or rsand@earthsci.ucsc.edu Stanley Flatte--(408) 459-2090 or smf@pacific.ucsc.edu

This release is also available via the World Wide Web at UCSC's "Services for Journalists" site (http://www.ucsc.edu/news/journalist.html) or via modem from UC NewsWire (209/244-6971).

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