source: Gary Moskowitz in LATimes 2002.01.12

HILLSIDE DISTRICT -- The atmosphere in JohnOssiff's science room at Joaquin Miller Elementary
School was electric this week.His 28 fourth-grade students spent an hour
Wednesday working with copper wires, metal coils, solar panels, electromagnets and miniature
power generators with Burbank Water and Power Department employees, who taught the students
about electricity and how the city uses it.

Students watched a miniature model of a Burbank power plant Wednesday and learned about how
steam projected into turbines moves through a generator to provide electricity. "You can have fun
while you're learning. It's like we weren't in class," student Jordan Kasparian said.

Ossiff's room was bustling with flashing lights, the crackle of electricity rising up
a Jacob's Ladder device, and the sound of static shooting from one copper wire to another.

"This complements a lot of the science standards we are discussing in class. But
it's one thing to discuss things and another to put your hands on something and
see how it works," Ossiff said.

The BWP workers were there as part of the agency's Speakers Bureau, which
has been sending experts into classrooms for six years.

Mary Forrest, who coordinates the school presentations, has been among the
BWP employees to visit local elementary schools throughout the year, giving
demonstrations about electricity, water and safety with exhibits that students
can see, hear and touch.

The group makes presentations at Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Waldo Emerson
and Thomas Edison elementary schools.

"The beauty of this program is that they are touching things, using their senses
and interacting while learning," Forrest said. "We try to make it real for them,
and they learn by seeing things in action."