The Science House: A University Science and Math Outreach Program
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Hie Science House: A University Science and Math Outreach Program The best compliment I ever got about my teaching came from a fifth grade teacher who said she spent two weeks with her students doing all the hands-on activities from my Physics From the Junk Drawer workshop. They did dozens of experiments with paper cups, string, clay, paper clips, and soda straws. At the end of two weeks, the students put on a show-and-tell of their activities for their parents. Before attending our workshop, that teacher, like most elementary school teachers, probably had not lead her students in many such activities. She was probably also a little unsure of her science knowledge. Now, however, I think she understands the excitement of "doing" science in her classroom. Physics From the Junk Drawer is a workshop offered by The Science House at North Carolina State University (NCSU). The Science House, an outreach program of the physical science and mathematics departments, has the goal of increasing hands-on learning in the sciences. The Science House is also a growing partnership with North Carolina teachers, who participate in, plan, and direct many of the teaching activities. The Science House has teaching classrooms and labs on the NCSU campus and outreach programs that travel over a large part of North Carolina. This is an unusual initiative for a group of departments best known for their undergraduate teaching and their graduate research activities. However, The Science House mission is right in line with the land-grant heritage of NCSU. At The Science House we work with many teachers of all grade levels to help them use hands-on learning in their classrooms. For elementary and middle school teachers, the programs emphasize doing science and math with things easily available at the grocery or hardware store. Teachers who attend Countertop Chemistry, or Digging into Earth Science, or Hands-On Math, leave the workshop with a book of activity plans and boxes of materials to use with their own students. Often the stuff we teach on Tuesday night is used with a class of fourth graders on Wednesday morning. One especially successful teacher workshop, Countertop Chemistry, was developed and taught by Melissa Brown, a local high school teacher, who worked one year as the co-director of The Science
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House. The Countertop Chemistry manual has about 30 experiments suitable for grades four through nine. The experiments, from the three recipes for slime to the thermodynamics of making ice cream, are all proven interest-getters. Because of today's safety and waste disposal concerns, the experiments involve chemicals found at the grocery or hardware store. A section on chemical safety was included with the help of NCSU chemistry faculty. The labs include an explanation of the science, step-by-step instructions, supply lists, and, most important, many teachertested tips for hands-on activities. Our collaboration with high school teachers has a high-tech focus. A couple of years ago, some of us were discussing how frustrating it is to show
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