Wonders of Our World

Department of Chemistry
www.wow.osu.edu
Susan Olesik, Director; Ryan McCarthy, Program Coordinator
614-688-0501
wow@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

The Wonders of Our World (WOW) program delivers the excitement of hands-on science to more than 3,000 elementary school students in Ohio. The program was founded in 1999 by Susan Olesik, professor in the Department of Chemistry, in collaboration with teachers and administrators in local elementary schools.

In professional development workshops throughout the school year, teachers learn how to incorporate curriculum based science experiments into their lessons. Volunteers then assist the teachers as they facilitate the experiments in the classroom. WOW presently serves more than 3,000 students and 150 teachers in seven inner city and suburban schools in Columbus, Dublin and Wooster, Ohio with a team of nearly 300 volunteers, including Ohio State students and professional scientists. Participation in WOW has helped schools significantly increase their passing rates on the science portion of the Ohio Proficiency Test. The program serves as a model for scientists everywhere who want to improve science education. Requests to join the program have come from many Ohio universities and from schools as far away as Puerto Rico. Muskingum College will start a WOW program in autumn 2005, working with South Elementary School in Cambridge.

Since its inception, there have been remarkable improvements in Proficiency Test scores. For example, at Gables Elementary School in Columbus Public Schools, more than 80 percent of students passed in 2002 vs. less than 55 percent in 2000. Similar improvements have been seen at all of the schools involved in the WOW program.