Steve Gramsch, research scientist at the Geophysical Lab (GL), usually begins his day working with the high-pressure diamond-anvil cell group. He then shuttles to the César Chávez Public Charter High School in Washington, D.C., to teach basic physical science and chemistry to students who have had little exposure to science or scientific reasoning. “It’s sometimes hard to turn your brain over twice a day—from one extreme to another—and make the switch from research to teaching and then back again, but I find it pretty stimulating at the same time.”

While a postdoc at GL two and a half years ago, Gramsch taught a chemistry class at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school in Alexandria, Virginia. He discovered that even the highly talented students at Jefferson were largely uninspired by the rigid curriculum prescribed for them. “It seemed pretty clear to me that students would learn more and get excited about science if they could work on chemistry the way a chemist does rather than learning how to do problems and memorize facts.” He was able to test his theory by accepting an offer to develop his own curriculum at Chávez. “It was a chance to set up the program from the beginning and see if my idea would work.”

For the past year and a half, Gramsch has been doing his research at GL while discovering the correct formula for teaching chemistry to the uninitiated. The task has been enormous, but the yield has been worth it. Now, as his students are in their senior year, Gramsch has developed a rigorous but realistic hands-on curriculum that has had some very positive results. Out of a starting class of 60, more than 25% will graduate on time. Surprisingly, this figure exceeds the initial goal set by the school. More important, though, Gramsch’s approach has ignited an interest in science in several students who would not have been exposed to it otherwise. After experiencing the Gramsch way, his students lobbied the administration to add an advanced chemistry class. Some students even inquired about doing science-fair projects; something they had thought was way beyond their abilities before.“The students are naturally bright,” Gramsch says. “But they just haven’t had the opportunity to explore and expand their abilities in an environment that values academic work. Watching their potential become a real achievement—even though it’s sometimes slow in coming—is extremely rewarding.”