Science House Opens the Door to Learning

It's a bright, cool morning on the first day of spring break but the Witherspoon Student Center at North Carolina State University is anything but quiet. More than 400 energetic middle school girls crowd the center's auditorium for the opening of a daylong conference called, "Expanding Your Horizons."

The event begins with a science demonstration that gives several girls the satisfying opportunity to shoot ping-pong balls at a brave group of teachers standing stoically in the middle of an aisle. It's amazing how quickly kids pick up a concept like trajectory when the payoff is so immediate.

A group of middle school girls learn about crop science at NC State.

The keynote address is delivered, accompanied by a series of inspiring charts and graphs, by Dr. Christine Grant, an associate dean in the College of Engineering and one of just a handful of African-American women in the country to earn a position as a full professor in chemical engineering. She acknowledges that education involves a lot of hard work but encourages them with a rundown of the long-term benefits – economical, social and personal.

After the talk, the students break into small groups and spread out across campus for a series of workshops and hands-on science experiments led by female scientists.

"Expanding Your Horizons" is just one part of an ongoing effort at the university to interest more K-12 students in pursuing careers in the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The event's sponsor, the Science House, has long pioneered efforts to advance educational innovation in the state's public schools.

Dr. Sharon Schulze, the interim director at the Science House, says it's important to recruit women and minorities into the STEM fields.

"We need the greatest amount of diversity we can find," she says. "We're facing problems that we've never faced before and we can't just use the same old techniques to solve these new problems. The more diverse your problem-solving team is, the more perspectives they bring in, and the more approaches and brainstorming you can have. Differences can be combined to solve problems."

The Science House and its five regional offices work with more than 3,000 K-12 teachers throughout the state to enhance science and math education. Programs like, "Countertop Chemistry" and "Physics From the Junk Drawer" are popular with teachers facing limited resources in the classroom.

The Science House also offers professional development programs to train teachers on a range of topics, from technology to safety. And it maintains resources for students and teachers on the Web, including a directory of learning activities and teaching ideas.

Students receive enhanced math and science instruction through several cutting edge programs available at the Science House facility on NC State's Centennial Campus. The Imhotep Academy introduces middle grade students, especially young women and minorities, to the STEM disciplines through hands-on experiments and projects. Two programs in photonics teach high school students about the science of light and robotics.

"We have a tremendous team of people who are working with students, looking at what their talents are - not necessarily how they're dressed or how they use language," Schulze says. "We tell students, 'You have a talent. How can we use that talent and how can we bring it out?' A lot of times just giving young people the idea that this is something they have a skill in, that becomes a self fulfilling prophesy."

Links:

• Science House

• NC State College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences