Dianne Corwin

There is no scientific way to make kids like science, so Dianne Corwin decided to be sneaky.

"I made it fun," smiled Corwin, a sixth-grade teacher at Upland's Valencia Elementary School.

In October 2002, Corwin, with the help of Valencia's student council, created Corwin's Crazy Science Lab, an afterschool science adventure.

It was so popular that it returned last month.For two afternoons, right before Halloween, the lab's interactive activities astonished, amazed, educated and entertained close to 500 eager participants.

"We hold the lab around Halloween and we thought it would be fun to tie science in with things that are scary," Corwin said.

People must have agreed with her because the line to get in extended across the school's campus.Children and adults eagerly waited their turn to take the 20-minute tour through the six spooky stations inside Corwin's classroom.

The lab not only has scientific benefits, but financial ones as well.

"We made it a school fund-raiser," Corwin said.
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Corwin is pleased that her students have opened their minds to include a non-core subject.

"I just didn't think there was enough science in public schools," Corwin said.