Rutgers–Newark geology Professor Alexander E. Gates believes in the power of fun.

In his geology classes designed for urban high school students, teens scream and dance for joy when they hit a “gusher” on Gates’ home-designed and built oil game. Students can also unleash a tsunami on a miniature harbor, check a tub-sized landfill for leaks, and create their own personal earthquakes by jumping up and down next to a device that measures seismic activity.

Most of these exercises are done with classroom models designed by Gates, who disdains most computer-generated work. “I’m one of those who believe that if you can put your hands on something, the lesson stays with you,” said Gates, who chairs the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rutgers–Newark.

For the past two years, Gates has been taking his geology models to Newark public schools such as Science Park, American History and University high schools. Gates also supervises a four-week summer session for eighth and ninth graders at the Rutgers–Newark campus. This summer’s session drew 73 students from Newark and other communities who each received a $100 honorarium, 2.5 high school credits, and about 15 hours of community service credit for their participation.

Gates said he designed the inner-city programs after being struck by the lack of urban students taking his geology courses. “I realized that while most of them probably get classes that explain earth science theory, no one has shown them how geology can be practically applied and what fields you can go into and what type of money you can earn,” he said.

“You can teach kids about the strata of the Grand Canyon – it’s not a bad lesson, but it doesn’t tell them what they can do with that knowledge in real life. Plus the Grand Canyon is a long way from Newark.”

Gates obtained a $1.7 million grant from National Science Foundation two years ago for his urban geology lessons. He brings in officials from Exxon-Mobil, PSE&G, and environmental consulting companies to talk to students about careers. “With a master’s degree in geology, Exxon-Mobil will start you in the $125,000-a-year range. That’s a real eye opener for the kids,” Gates said.

His programs reach students like summer student Xavier McIntosh, who attends Columbia High School in Maplewood. “I think I would like maybe to go into the geology field since I like being outside and observing and testing for different things,” McIntosh said. “Being a geologist definitely would be different.”

Gates doodles ideas for his models and then turns them over to his “elf” – graduate student Michael Kalczynski, who makes Gates’ ideas into reality.

One of Gates’ most popular models is the oil game, a large rectangular box with a grid on top. Student teams are assigned $5 million they can use to drill wells and purchase data. For a price, Gates will uncover different sides of the box to reveal maps of underground rock formations. Each team chooses spots on the grid as drill sites. Buzzes and flashing lights greet a gusher and a red light indicates a dry hole.

“Kids go crazy when they hit. I try to run it almost like a game show, ” Gates said. “The big lesson they learn is if you want to strike oil, you have to spend the money to get data.”

The oil game sparks an immediate interest, Gates said. Before the game, classroom surveys show only 6 to 10 percent of students are interested in a geoscience profession. Afterwards, that percentage spikes to 60 to 65 percent. “I don’t think they will all pursue geology careers, but it starts them thinking. It plants a seed.” Gates said.

Gates also assigns his students more practical tasks. This summer, he asked students to map contamination in Branch Brook Park in Newark. Students sampled and tested water and soil for everything from fecal coliform to heavy metals and pH. Their test results were turned into a giant poster, unveiled at a ceremony for parents and teachers at the end of the course.

American History High School teacher Josue Falaise, one of Gates’ aides this summer, has high hopes for the program. “What I’m really hoping is that this course can be sustained over the next three to four years, so that we get kids on track to study this in college and hopefully go on to make a career out of this,” Falaise said.

Gates, who has taught at Rutgers–Newark for 22 years, trained as field geologist. His extensive research at Harriman State Park in New York resulted in the discovery several years ago of rock at Harriman that matches rock in Brazil. This discovery was a key contribution to the geologic theory of the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia,

Currently Gates is studying all the geologic fault lines in New Jersey, big and small, old and new, to see what they can tell him about potential future earthquakes in the Garden State. He also continues to work closely with the Newark Museum to bring geoscience to the public.