The Hallinan Phenomenon:  Student scientists making huge impact with new lab

By Cliff Newell

Most people would use the word “project” to describe the big scientific doings at Hallinan Elementary School.

But Principal Steve Mauritz has another phrase: “The Hallinan Phenomenon.”

True. “Project” might be too small a word to describe what has gone on at the Lake Oswego elementary school ever since its state-of-the-art science lab was built last spring.

This fine facility has been used by every sixth grade student in the Lake Oswego School District, and they have already launched an ambitious water-testing project with some big-time partners.

Mauritz, the senior principal in the LOSD with 22 years of service, smiles like a proud papa when he talks about what the students are doing.

“We want to find out how all elementary schools connect with the water resources in Lake Oswego,” Mauritz said. “Since we’re a water-based community we need a deeper understanding of Lake Oswego’s watershed issues, the players, and how they can be involved. It’s very exciting stuff.”

There are three phases to Project Watershed:

·         Last September each elementary school principal gave a lesson on the problems faced by the lake, such as invasive species.

·         All of the sixth graders in the LOSD were bussed over to the bright, shiny lab at Hallinan to conduct extensive water testing.

·         Using a grant from Tryon Creek State Park, the students will visit three watershed sites – George Rogers Park, the Hunt Club, and Waluga Park – to make enhanced water testing this year.

The students will be making eight different water quality tests which they will pass on to the City of Lake Oswego, the Lake Corporation, and “anyone else who wants them.”

But the students will not only be using test tubes and microscopes in the lab. They will be pulling ivy, labeling storm drains, and “galvanizing” their parents with their tremendous enthusiasm.

“We can engage health and ecosystems,” Mauritz said. “This is much deeper than anything we’ve been able to do in the past.”

The source of all this good work is the lab, which is truly a unique resource for an elementary school. In an era when kids are tied to computers and prepare for endless tests, the lab provides a tremendous opportunity for hands-on learning.

“Kids are unbelievably excited to be part of a science lab experiment,” Mauritz said. “They love the way the lab concentrates equipment and projects in one place and allows them to pursue their own ideas. We had not seen this before.

“Kids are connecting in a way you don’t often do in this age. They get away from computer screens and get out into the real world. They connect to all the excitement, mystery and magic in nature and the environment.”

The laboratory was built by Saxton Bradley, the education supply and training company, and there were many elementary schools that wanted it. But the company was convinced that Hallinan Elementary would be the best place for it, because Mauritz wanted it to be “a partnership model of the future.”

“I want them to bring clients in here whenever they want,” Mauritz said. “I’m totally sold on this being a model for teaching science.”

Thus the “Hallinan Phenomenon” – and it’s only just begun.

“I want to open this to other schools so we leverage it across the district,” Mauritz said. “It won’t be just a Hallinan Phenomenon.”

Published in the Lake Oswego Review, February 4, 2010