New Haven Independent

Based in the same building as Yale’s new police station, it features 16 flat-screen computers for community use and offers a variety of classes and tutoring for both children and adults. The center is the latest boost to that stretch of Dixwell, which has benefited from the rebuilding of the old Elm Haven projects, the creation of a new street of working- and middle-class homebuyers, and the move of New Haven Reads.

One of the offerings is a hands-on science class for middle-schoolers. Eight kids attended the first class Wednesday, giving reasons that ran the gamut from, “I like science,” to “My mother made me,” to “I wanted to see what this place was all about.” Kids seemed to enjoy the beautiful space, featuring high ceilings and glass walls. Some also spoke highly of the snacks, which center coordinator Makana Ellis assured this reporter were only of the healthiest kind.

Ellis (in photo) is a native New Havener. She grew up in the Hill, attended Yale and graduated last year. She was hired in October and spent the past few months reaching out to the community to see what people wanted, and to the campus to line up volunteers and paid student interns.

Volunteer teacher and Yale junior Josh Goodstein was enthusiastic about his science class, using a curriculum he’s developed himself over the past few years of teaching in other programs. After an initial period where several kids wandered in and out of the classroom, they settled in for the hands-on experiments. Goodstein asked them to say what they think of as “science.” They came up with terms like earth, plants, rocks, planets, gravity, the human body, and more. Then he gave them his definition of “science” — “to ask and answer questions about the world.”

He explained they’d be doing an experiment to see what “stuff” was made of — or “matter,” using a more scientific term. He had them fill plastic cups almost full with water, as Michael Spencer did, then add more than enough garlic salt to make the cups overflow — but they didn’t.

After some questioning and some diagramming on the dry board, he was able to get across the point that matter isn’t solid — that the garlic salt filled in the spaces around the water molecules and so the mixture didn’t overflow the top of the cups.

The center is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 7 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. The center is also offereing free income tax preparation on Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 2-5 p.m. For more information, call 436-4841 or email.