It's all about the science

Program to add Paleontology Dig Site, garden in fall

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When Lamping Elementary School students return to school this fall, they'll have a whole lot more to do than learn the jobs of NASA space shuttle crew and ground control personnel.

As the 2006-07 school year commences, Lamping students will learn to excavate dinosaur bones in the school's new Paleontology Dig Site. They also will learn about three desert landscapes in the school's new Tri-Desert Garden.

Lamping Vice Principal Gwen Gibson said the school is in the process of completing the Paleontology Dig Site next to the William McCool Science Center.

"The completed pit will be divided into six dig sites, all shielded by a shade cover printed with a life-size pterodactyl," she said.

Each dig site will host a set of bones for a different dinosaur model. The bones will have interlocking pieces, and after excavating them, students will snap them together to create six different 6-foot dinosaur models.

The area around the dig site will feature reader boards with information about the Jurassic era, as well as history and general information related to the field of paleontology, and three life-size casts of a 12-foot dinosaur leg bone, a mastodon foot and a tyrannosaurus rex skull.

Gibson said the area will be "like a natural history museum." She said next fall, the science center will be a field trip destination for schools throughout the Clark County School District.

"We're working to put together a curriculum for our students and students from other schools," she said. "It will include materials and study activities for before and after a visit to the science center."

The 11,830-square-foot, landscaped Tri-Desert Garden area will feature plants indigenous to the Sonoran Desert, the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin Desert.

Gibson said the design of the garden area was inspired by the Cactus Garden at Ethel M Chocolates.

The three garden areas will be separated into sections by foot paths.

"We'll have markers set out for the different plants, and students will get an activity guide book to take through the garden which will explain the plants," Gibson said.

The Paleontology Dig Site and Tri-Desert Garden are expected to be in place for student use by early fall, in time for the new school year.

In the meantime, the school's William McCool Science Center has hosted two field trips, both held on Saturday, for students in a program for disadvantaged youth.

"We had some activities set up in the Air-space Museum area," Gibson said. "We also set up the Star Lab Planetarium for the students to enjoy."

The Star Lab Planetarium is an inflatable planetarium that creates a variety of night sky scenes for students to study.

Gibson said during visits to the planetarium, teachers discuss mythology of the stars and constellations, and how each of the figures got its name.

The William McCool Science Center also houses the Space and Command Center and shuttle simulator, which allows fourth- and fifth-graders to experience a simulated flight into space on a space shuttle as both ground crew and astronauts.

The center also has a working scale model of the Southern Nevada Water Authority's water system for the Las Vegas Valley, a weather station, and a science shop called The Shop @WMSC.

Dana Czerwinski, a parent volunteer at The Shop @WMSC, helped open it in mid-October.

It is maintained and operated by volunteers.

It carries an assortment of educational toys and activities for children, including miniature paleontology dig sets, youth-size NASA space suits, science kits from the Young Scientists Club for ages 5 through 12, microscopes and geology kits.

Czerwinski said the school used to host an annual science shop set up by an outside party. After the William McCool Science Center was completed, Lamping Principal Mike O'Dowd thought it would be nice to have a permanent science shop in the center.

"The science center is such a fabulous thing for the kids," she said. "They get so excited about it, and they're so comfortable with science, and that's important. They're immersed in it, and science is fun for them."

Interested community members can also shop online though the school's Web site at www.lampingelementary.com.

Gibson said future plans for the William McCool Science Center include a greenhouse, a wind turbine and a series of solar panels, which will be used to demonstrate solar panels and provide energy to parts of the science center.

"We're kind of touching on all of the sciences," she said. "We were originally focused on flight, and now we're expanding out and focusing on all areas of science."

The science center is dedicated to the memory of William McCool, a NASA astronaut who died aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. His parents, Barry and Audrey McCool, are Las Vegas residents. McCool had planned to become a science teacher after retiring from NASA.

For more information about Lamping Elementary School and the William McCool Science Center, visit www.lampingelementary.com.