News Details (Posted: June 18, 2003):

LIVERMORE TEACHER ROCKS TO SAVE SCHOOL SCIENCE PROGRAM

Full Description:

A fifth-grade boy tries to coax his classmates to get up and dance as their science teacher sings about the colors of the light spectrum. A few minutes later, the filled auditorium falls silent as students and teachers check their pulse.

The event that has the room at Arroyo Seco Elementary so packed and the students so rapt is a concert by “Scientific Jam,” a rock band fronted by Livermore science teacher Jeff Hale. Hale and his band mates have a new partner for this performance, third-grader Chrissie Mille. For months, the young “Scientific Jam” fan has been listening to the band’s CD’s at home, and Hale has been giving her guitar lessons at school, in preparation for the Tuesday morning concert. The student fans sway with the beat as their peer joins in for several of the group’s songs featuring catchy hooks and lyrics about such musical phenomena as chemical reactions, sound, bones, and the heartbeat.

“Scientific Jam” started when Hale, a Livermore science teacher for thirteen years, began bringing his guitar to school and singing to his lab students. He began writing song lyrics related to the curriculum, and it wasn’t long before word spread and parents where asking Hale about his music. One of those parents was Ken Williams, himself a scientist at the Livermore lab, and, as it happened, a bass player. The band’s third member was Jeff Hale’s brother Darryl, a professional drummer living in Sacramento. Other members have included math teacher (and drummer) Chad Stone of Brentwood, and currently Brentwood residents Rod Linn (bass) and George Schuler (drums). The lab-coated musicians perform throughout Northern California, as school calendars and vacation time allow. And yes, there are CDs, two of them so far, produced in Hale’s custom-built home recording studio.

At the end of Tuesday’s “Scientific Jam” concert, Arroyo Seco teachers and parents took the stage to express their appreciation toward Hale—and to say goodbye. Due to budget cuts in the Livermore school district, the city’s elementary school students will be losing their school science specialists and hands-on lab time. Hale won’t be losing a job, but he agrees with parents and educators who think the kids will be missing out on a lot. “Elementary age is the age to teach (hands-on) science,” says Hale, “it’s natural.” Curious young minds are able to discover the answers to their questions using the scientific method of questioning, hypothesizing, observing, analyzing and inferring.

Hale isn’t taking the problem of the budget sitting down. He’ll be donning his lab coat and guitar to throw a benefit concert this July. The idea for the concert came to Hale after being approached by many parents who wanted to know what they could do to save the science program. Now dozens of teachers and parents are in “event planning” mode, pooling their efforts to create the July 20th event, called “SOS: Science in Our Schools.” The benefit will take place in Livermore’s Robertson Park, and in addition to live music of “Scientific Jam” and other performers, will include children’s activities, food, and a prize raffle. Event participants providing special activities currently include the Lawrence Livermore and Sandia Laboratories and the Valley Children’s Museum. Businesses and community organizations throughout the area are being approached to provide activities and raffle prizes. Tickets to the festival are being sold through KnowBrainers at 1120 East Stanley Boulevard and Fretted Friends at 2175 First Street.

Referring to the event, Jeff Hale said at his Tuesday assembly, “If we all stick together, if we all pull together, we can make a difference.” And we can all hear some moving songs about the digestive system:

Chew it up, move it all around;
The digestive system will break it down,
Break it down,
Oh, break it down.