Time was, Charlie Scaife did his science
shows mostly in elementary school classrooms and gymnasiums.
Today, he is asked to do shows at playgrounds, birthday
parties, even family reunions.
Four years after the professor of chemistry and his wife,
Priscilla, began traveling to schools to energize youngsters in science, audiences are
catching on to what the Scaifes have been saying all along: science isn't just for
the classroom.
“I think we need to help parents to recognize that
these things don't have to happen in school,” he said. “We want to try to
open this program up a little bit. There are lots of modes under which you can accomplish
a lot. And besides, it's fun.”
“The kids realize they are going to have fun,”
Scaife said of doing shows outside of a classroom. “But they don't always know
they will accidentally learn something along the way.”
Scaife each year trains about two dozen Union students to
do science programs throughout the region. A number of them also do programs at schools in
their hometowns during breaks. Last Sunday, 16 Union students did demonstrations for the
National Science Week celebration at the state museum in Albany.
Besides performing at a birthday party, Scaife had another
first this year when they played a county fair in Kansas. “We were sort of a side
show,” he said.