Kids should have at least as much fun with science as do professional scientists, say University of California, Davis, zoology professors David Deamer and Richard Nuccitelli, who recently received a $1.08 million grant from the National Science Foundation to team up with elementary school teachers to invigorate science education in area schools ranging from Sacramento to Fairfield. The three-year science teaching project aims to involve many of the elementary teachers and students within a 50-mile radius of Davis in an effort to infuse excitement and resources into elementary science education, according to the researchers. The UC Davis Science Institute for Elementary School Teachers program, called EXCITES (Excellence In Teaching Elementary Science), plans to expose teachers to leading university scientists who can share the excitement of the discovery process. The program's goal is to communicate important scientific principles in a stimulating manner emphasizing hands-on activities for elementary classrooms. "Science is basically a process of discovery, and we want to find ways to bring the excitement of discovery to the K-6 (kindergarten through sixth-grade) classroom," says Nuccitelli, who was drawn to science by his natural curiosity and desire to teach. Working closely with the two UC Davis professors will be San Juan School District science program specialist David Hammond, who brings experience with discovery-oriented learning in the elementary classroom. In addition, California State University, Sacramento, education professor Chris Hasegawa will lend his expertise on hands-on activities. Other resources include an advisory panel of 20 teachers and administrators from the area. The National Science Foundation recommends 30 minutes of science instruction per day for grade-school students. But national and local studies suggest that far less time than that is spent on science in the classroom in an average day. The California educational code, for example, has no minute requirement for elementary science. Part of the reason science receives little attention may be that many grade-school teachers have had little or no science training in their crowded curriculum. Furthermore, it appears that the traditional textbook approach is still being used in most elementary schools. "All kids have the curiosity of a scientist by nature, but when I visit classes they almost always say science is boring because it's mostly reading books," Nuccitelli says. A biophysicist, Nuccitelli studies how embryos use their natural electric fields to guide cell migration during development and how a sperm activates an egg upon fertilization. Fewer than half of all Americans know that the earth goes around the sun once a year, and one-third believe that boiling radioactive milk will make it safe, according to a recent study aimed at gauging scientific knowledge among the general population. The widespread scientific illiteracy suggested by this and other similar studies concerns many people, who predict the consequences may erode U.S. global economic power, as well as the ability of the democracy's citizens to make informed decisions about technical issues. "We feel K-6 is where the most important attitudes about math and science are molded," says Deamer, who became interested in science as a child when he observed a neighborhood friend concocting a homemade ant poison from his chemistry set. Now a UC Davis biophysicist, Deamer studies how primitive membranes might have contributed to the origin of life on earth. Following the blueprint of the new California Science Framework, the first year's classes in July 1993 will focus on biological sciences; the second year, on earth sciences; and the third, physical sciences. By the end of each summer, participants will take dozens of science activities back to their classrooms and colleagues. For one month during the summer, top scientists from UC Davis will lead discussions every morning for the core group of 75 elementary teachers expected to attend. In the afternoons, the teachers will move to the laboratory where other elementary teachers will share hands-on science discovery-oriented exercises. The classes continue during the year, meeting one Saturday every month. The teachers will receive college credit and a stipend for their time in classes. Deamer and Nuccitelli based their program on a similar, nationally acclaimed three-year elementary science teaching course started four years ago by UC San Diego biology professor Paul Saltman. The UC Davis program is part of a national trend at the university level to improve science education for students long before they get to their first college science classes. The Science Institute for Elementary School Teachers complements other UC Davis-based curriculum and professional development programs, which have tended to focus on science education at the grade levels 7 through 12. Participating elementary teachers are also expected to become science resources for their schools and districts. Each participant will be asked to work with at least 10 other teachers a year. With 75 participating teachers reaching 10 or more other teachers a year for three years, the UC Davis science teaching project has the potential to affect more than 2,000 teachers and nearly 70,000 students, Hammond says.