For students at Cambridge's public schools, science means labs and textbooks four days out of five. But on the fifth day, Harvard students come to volunteer, and race-cars made out of mousetraps speed across classroom floors.

"Harvard students add a youthful element to teaching," says Linda A. Ferullo, a second-grade teacher at the Tobin School.

The project is just one of several being taught by Harvard students as part of a larger program called ExperiMentors.

ExperiMentors, founded in the fall of 1993 and sponsored by the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA), sends pairs of student volunteers to Cambridge public schools to teach science. The program has reached over 1000 children since its inception.

The volunteers visit each class every week for one hour, teaching children everything from the principles of sound to the anatomy of the human body.

The program's goal is "to take science in the classroom one step further," according to President Jennifer L. Morazes '96.

Morazes added that the program shows children that anyone, including women and minorities, can become a scientist.

Greg S. Sawicki '97, ExperiMentors' PBHA cabinet representative, said the organization is looking for donations from science organizations to fund their operations. ExperiMentors is presently supported by Phillips Brooks House and a public service grant from President Neil L. Rudenstine.

"We are new and it is just a matter of time before we are properly funded," he says.

The program, which consists of about 100 volunteers, currently runs three separate projects.

By far the largest effort is one in which about 70 undergraduates teach science units in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms at the Fitzgerald, Tobin and Peabody Schools.

According to Morazes, this program offers the most flexibility and freedom in what is taught; volunteers are assigned to a class, create their own lesson plans with help from teachers, and deliver eight lessons per semester.

At the end of the semester, high school students will enjoy a day-long field trip to Harvard for tours of laboratories and museums. The younger students will present their projects, which the undergraduates will help them design, to other classes in science days held at each of the participating elementary schools.

About 10 to 20 student volunteers, mostly science concentrators, also began teaching in science classes at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School this fall.

"The philosophy of this particular program is to provide positive role models and show diversity in the scientific community," says Moupali Das '96, a biochemical sciences concentrator and the coordinator of the high school program.