10/6/2013: Our outreach program has a new permanent webpage where further updates are now posted.
You can also read about the details of the program in our J. Chem. Education Article:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed500377m
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The Boettcher group – in collaboration with several other UO research groups – has developed a unique targeted multi-level outreach program that provides enhanced STEM educational activities for local middle and high school students with the goal of increasing the number and diversity of STEM university graduates. The program takes place on no-school Friday’s – i.e. furlough days – when local students don’t have class due to budget cuts. The activities, which we named “Mad Duck Science Friday” take place on 11 Fridays during the 2011-2012 school year and will continue into 2013. Each activity consists of hands-on laboratory-based science with a focus on critical thinking and data collection (example activities are highlighted below), takes place on the UO campus with 15-25 middle school students from Hamlin Middle school in Springfield, and lasts ~ 4 hours including a short lunch break. To help run the activities, we have recruited near-peer student mentors from the advanced chemistry class at Springfield High School. These high school students also participate in advanced laboratory work on the UO campus during the school year facilitated by the Boettcher, Pluth and Nazin research groups. Select high school students have opportunities to participate in summer research internships. The idea is that these near-peer mentors provide a seamless link between the undergraduate and graduate student mentors and the middle school students while simultaneously gaining mentoring and science teaching skills.
The “Mad Duck Science Friday” Program will conclude for the 2011-2012 school year on May 25th with a science symposium on the UO campus. All middle and high school students and their families are invited to attend where the students can exhibit the activities to their family. Campus and lab tours as well as larger science demonstrations will also take place, thus engaging not only the students but the larger local community.
To run this extensive program we have partnered with the Springfield after school program coordinators Michelle Jenson and Rachael Koller. The Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) and the UO Chemistry Department also sponsor the program.
Some links highlighting the effort:
http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i16/Furlough-Friday-Science-Days.html
Events and Photos
3/15/13 Boettcher group graduate and undergraduate students implement a new Mad Duck module: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology! Students from Hamlin Middle School practice spin coating thin films, extracting DNA from split peas, and building models of different forms of carbon-only nanostructures. The curriculum can be found here.
2/8/13 Outreach collaboration featured in Register-Guard article, the major Eugene-Springfield newspaper (MadDuck2013.pdf).
11/16/12 Dreyfus foundation selects “Mad Duck Science Friday” outreach program for three years of funding. Many thanks to our collaborator Prof. Mike Pluth (http://pages.uoregon.edu/pluth/index.html) for leading the grant application process and to all the other student and faculty volunteers, and to our fantastic partners in the Springfield School District!
5/25/12 Science Friday Family Night organized – nearly 100 parents, siblings, and friends of local middle and high school students who participated in the Science Friday program visited the UO to learn what the kids have been doing all year as well as touring the campus and labs, and taking part in science activities and demonstrations. A huge success! Photos to be posted soon. Mad Duck Science Fridays will continue in 2012-2013 with a new batch of Springfield 7th grade students.
4/20/12 Boettcher and Nazin groups work with middle school and high school students to design, build, and race solar cars as part of the “Mad Duck Science Friday” program. The solar car kits were provided by EWEB – a local electrical utility – our industry outreach partner. The event was covered by KEZI, the local ABC news stations, in the nightly news (http://kezi.com/news/local/244819). Check out our photo gallery here!
4/6/12 Boettcher group graduate students design and implement hands-on activities in electrochemistry and batteries for science Friday outreach. Curricula is here, and a photo gallery for the day can be found here.
2/3/12 Congratulations to Lena, Adam, Andy and Matt for planning and implementing the most successful Middle School Science Friday session yet! The theme was “Phases of Matter and Chemical Reactions”. The goal was to engage students in understanding different phases of matter,and how matter can move between solid, liquid, and gas by physical means (e.g. temperature, pressure) or through a chemical reaction. The curriculum used can be found here, with an introduction here.
1/12/12 The Mad Duck Science high School program begins. Graduate students from the Nazin and Boettcher groups team up to work with AP chemistry students from Springfield High School to learn about quantitative analysis and analytical chemistry using an atomic absorption spectrometer. The goals of this outreach effort are to: (1) expose advanced high-school students to university teaching and research labs, (2) strengthen interest in STEM via interactions with UO graduate students, and (3) to recruit the high school students as near-peer mentors for the on-going middle school STEM activities. Qualitative feedback suggests the activities were a success!
12/2/11 Boettcher and Nazin Groups run outreach event with 21 Hamlin Middle School students on the UO campus focused on introducing basic concepts in electricity and the basic properties of photovoltaic cells. Some of the curriculum is hereand here
11/4/11 Boettcher and Nazin Groups run outreach event on UO campus featuring hands on experiments with electron and optical microscopes as well as lasers, light and diffraction.
Check out SEM images the students took on our Mad Duck Science page on Flickr!
10/21/11 Boettcher Group member Adam Smith help elementary students learn about phase changes, thermodynamics and the “magic” of Chemistry!
10/14/11 Boettcher and Nazin Groups collaborate to run first UO Science Friday event! The first flyer is here.
We will be running activities for local Springfield Students on 11 “furlough” Fridays this year. We bring ~20 students on campus for each event on a day they would not normally have school and provide 3-4 hours of hands on science instruction/activities and lunch. The goals are:
- Develop students’ “I can see myself as a scientist” identity and self-concept
- Engage students’ higher order problem-solving and analysis skills
- Create an on-campus family-student culminating event to foster students’ school-to-college identity
8/5/11 Science Factory Middle School Summer Camp Visits the Boettcher Lab: Undergraduate Ben Nail explains the growth of nanostructures via vapor transport.
SPICE! Camp: Crime Scene Investigation – 6/21/11 – Rising 7th grade girls from the Eugene/Springfield area use science to catch the perpetrator of a (mock) murder
The investigators interrogate Lena, the boss of the lab where the murder took place.
Lifting fingerprints the way the pros do it!
For more information on the SPICE! program, check our their website
14th Annual Solar Challenge – 6/11/11 – Hundreds of local middle school students build and race solar powered model cars!
http://cartt.4j.lane.edu/solar_challenge/
Andy helping kids test the frictional losses in their cars at the roll-down station.
Some cars were quite unusual in design.
Shannon manning the “concept car” testing station.
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Middle School Visit: Introduced >150 middle school students to concepts of size and scale in materials using a portable scanning electron microscope!
Roosevelt Middle School Visit February 23, 2011
Links
Java Applet that Demonstrates the Scale of Objects Great for introductory demonstrations to middle and high school students!
http://www.er.doe.gov/bes/scale_of_things.html Nice slides from the DOE on scale.
http://science.pppst.com/index.html Science for kids.
Simulation apps from CU Boulder: http://phet.colorado.edu/
After School Science kits http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/about_toolkits.html?tab=science
Video Lessons – http://www.khanacademy.org/about
science resource that may be of interest, includes references, research, etc.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/site_index.html
Great STEM resources: stemcentral.sallyridescience.com
References
Tai, R. H., Sadler, P. M., & Mintzes, J. J. Factors influencing college science success. Journal of College Science Teaching. 35(8), 56 – 60, 2006.
Files
Middle School Outreach with Portable SEM – Inquiry Driven Worksheet.doc
Solar Cells 2 Shading and Light Color R2.pdf
Photovoltaic Activity One – Current and Voltage as a function light intensity.pdf