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Dean Ludden visited Markham Elementary School in Oakland to teach a class of third-graders about the earliest stages of life.The dean and his lab staff (Julie Niedermayr,Marissa Hirst,and Leo Curatti) helped the kids inject sea urchins with potassium chloride to make them produce gametes. The children then inspected the sperm and eggs under microscopes and watched wide-eyed as fertilization and cell division took off.“I hope it sparks their curiosity,”Ludden said about the experiment,which he brought to Markham with the help of Oakland City Council Member Desley Brooks. “I hope they gain confidence and realize that they can ask questions about their surroundings and think up ways to answer those questions.”