|
This
program is named in honor of Dr. Ronald McNair In 2003, the Columbia MRSEC and the New York City Department of Education (Instructional Unit 10) launched a partnership to engage students through classroom demonstations presented by their teachers; this interactive collaboration is called the Ron McNair CITIES "Curriculum Integration to Interactively Engage Students" Program.). About 10 high school teachers and assistant principals are working alongside 10 graduate students and postdoctoral scientists to adapt existing and develop new demonstrations for students in high school physics, chemistry, and earth science classes. The goal was more effective teaching of the New York State Regents curricula, by exciting students through their participation in these demonstrations and by developing their critical thinking skills. Many of these demonstrations are closely tied to the wide-ranging influence of materials in our everyday lives. In 2006, the program expanded its reach to teachers in Brooklyn (Instructional Unit 8). Through our interaction with teachers in the CITIES program, we learned that several NYC public high schools have implemented (internal) science fairs into their curriculum as a way to build student confidence, challenge potential, and instill independent achievement from a successful science fair project. MRSEC participants were eager to share their knowledge and personal experience with the students. They assisted students throughout the science project, from developing a hypothesis to interpreting results to creating a poster display. In June 2007, the Columbia MRSEC hosted the first "Ron McNair CITIES Science Showcase," an event that acknowledged the science fair winners from our partner high schools: High School for Enterprise, Business (EBT), and Technology (Brooklyn), Louis D. Brandeis High School (Manhattan), Progress High School (Brooklyn). The high school students had the opportunity to present their winning projects to teachers, parents, and Columbia professors, graduate students, and post doctorates.
See www.columbia.edu/cu/news/07/06/showcase.html for an article regarding the 2007 Ron McNair CITIES Science Showcase For more information about the program contact Justine Herrera. |
