Purdue University’s Spring Fest was held on April 18 this year and there were many opportunities for children to learn about Discovery Park. In addition to a teacher’s corner, some of the student activities were: create your own planet, spin the big wheel health quiz, and renewable energy cars. There were energy car races, while others attempted to eat 100 billion nanogram burgers! For more information regarding this years Spring Fest as well as future program dates, check out the Official Spring Fest Website.
What can Purdue and Discovery park offer you as a teacher? Which resources are available to support your science instruction in the classroom? Discovery Park and the Wabash Valley Education Council are planning a workshop for upper elementary teachers based on state core science standards in grades 4-6. Teachers attending this workshop will receive a tour of the new DISCOVERY PARK, participate in demonstrations, and have opportunities to practice and manipulate the materials utilized in science activities. All teachers will leave with a science resource pack full of lesson ideas, resource information, and science materials. This workshop will take place at DISCOVERY PARK on June 16th from 10:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided. The cost for this opportunity is $20.00. To register, go to the Wabash Valley Education Council website: www.esc5.k12.in.us, look under the PD tab and click on “registration”. A map to DISCOVERY PARK is available at the site as well. Topics include: The nature of science and technology; properties and changes in matter; structures and functions in living systems.
zipTrips is a new program to create science-based electronic field trips for students in grades 6–8. These field trips use technology to provide virtual visits to the West Lafayette campus, where students will meet scientists from Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue Agriculture, and Discovery Park, and learn first-hand about their work. Purdue zipTrips is funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Visit www.purdue.edu/ziptrips to learn more.
Have you and your class been to Purdue University’s newest research facility? We would like to invite you to take a tour. To register for a class visit, please go to: http://www.purdue.edu/dp/index.php.
Sponsored by the Discovery Park Center for Advanced Manufacturing. Workshop dates are July 20-24, 2009. The goal is for 12 high school teachers to be given the specialized skills required to make an electric guitar and to present the building activity in class as a means of interesting students in STEM topics. There will be a strong emphasis on underlying principles and on how to deliver the activity. Attendees will be able to run successful workshops (perhaps with Purdue involvement) when they return to their schools. The teaching materials, including a book entitled “Engineering the Guitar – Theory and Practice” will be provided to the teachers during the class. Additionally, the curriculum modules and supporting information will be posted on the web site for the guitar lab (www.metalsound.org). The site has existed for several years and is being developed into a repository for technical information on guitars. Later additions to the teaching materials might be provided by the teachers themselves and can also be distributed through the web site.
A separate student workshop will also take place at another time. To refer students, have them check out the website.
The goal of this project is to develop a demonstration kit and accompanying activity-based curriculum that teaches the basics of fluid power in a way that is complex enough to provide challenging learning experiences for teachers and students, yet simple enough to be economical, reliable and portable. The design and construction of the kit is finished and curriculum development for students in grades 8-12 is underway. The kit includes materials needed to assemble a complete working micro-excavator, using water hydraulics or pneumatics that can be built and implemented in classrooms or hands-on displays. Fabrication instructions for the apparatus have been developed for dissemination throughout CCEFP and its member companies.
Website: http://www.ccefp.org/education-outreach/pre-college-education/b3
For questions: Jill Wable at jwable@purdue.edu
Deadline: May 15 (Will accept essays for up to a week after deadline.)
The NEXTRANS Center at Purdue University is sponsoring a high school essay competition for students residing in Indiana. The goal of this contest is to encourage students to consider how integral transportation is to the future of Indiana and our nation, and potentially interest them in pursuing transportation-related careers and/or higher education in the field.
Essay Topic:
Why is transportation important to the future of Indiana? What transportation challenges is our state facing, and how might we solve them?
Please visit http://www.purdue.edu/dp/nextrans/contest.php for contest guidelines and additional topic information.
(http://www.purdue.edu/dp/nextrans/edu_k12.php)
Headquartered at Purdue University, the NEXTRANS Center is one of ten Regional University Transportation Centers selected competitively by the U.S. Department of Transportation to serve as leaders in meeting the nation's need for safe, efficient, and environmentally-sound transportations systems.
The Center is currently seeking qualified applicants for the NEXTRANS High School Internship in Transportation. This program provides qualified students with the opportunity to complete a 4-6 week program of research and activities at Purdue University. Participants will be exposed to the field of transportation through hands-on research activities under the guidance of a NEXTRANS Research Assistant. By fostering a challenging environment in which students learn through discovery, the Center hopes to attract a new generation of leaders to transportation-related careers.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and each 4-6 week program is scheduled to suit the individual student’s needs. Students will work approximately 20 hours per week at the NEXTRANS Center, and will be compensated for their time ($8-10 per hour). Applicants should live in close proximity to the West Lafayette / Purdue University area.
To apply, or for additional information, please contact Jessica Mehr via email jmehr@purdue.edu, or phone 765-496-9734. To learn more about NEXTRANS, visit www.purdue.edu/dp/nextrans
Purdue University is seeking school partners and 7th and 8th grade teachers to aid in research that will help us understand how middle school students learn complex science. We will focus on global warming and climate change as the theme for this multi-year study. Concepts for the study have been carefully chosen to address Indiana State Standards.
For more information about how you can become part of this research team, please contact:
Anita Roychoudhury, Ph.D.
4138 Beering Hall
Curriculum and Instruction (Science Education)
Purdue University
West Lafayette IN 47907-2098
Ph. 765-496-3920
email: aroychou@purdue.edu
A summer workshop, Infusing Energy Education into Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies is available for Grade K-8 Teachers. This project is supported, in part, by an Improving Teacher Quality Partnership Program grant (Public Law 107-110) administered by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
http://www.purdue.edu/eas/workshop/sisi.html
Discovery Park’s second annual Afternoon for Educators at Discovery Park to be held Tuesday, July 21 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the Burton D. Morgan Center. Please come for a good look at Discovery Park and to find out about STEM Education opportunities during the coming school year.
The Grand Opening of the Discovery Learning Center. Look for an upcoming notice of the Discovery Learning Center building opening sometime in the fall of 2009. You will be invited to interact with the STEM research facilities and faculty and tour Discovery Park.
http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/learningcenter/
Construction Cam
On September 18, 2009, the Purdue Conference on Indiana P-12 Energy Education will be held on the Purdue University campus. The purpose of the Conference is to share ideas and practices with P-12 teachers and administrators on teaching energy and energy policy content in Indiana schools using interdisciplinary thematic lessons. Education about energy can help students meet state standards in core subject areas like math and science, and understanding energy policy is a relevant and timely topic for all citizens.
Highlights of the Conference Purdue Conference on Indiana P-12 Energy Education include:
- Keynote address by Wally Tyner, Purdue professor and College of Agriculture energy economist (named an “Energy Patriot” by Senator Richard Lugar in June 2007)
- Fourteen breakout sessions including:
Over twenty area elementary students spent a week at the Birck Nanotechnology Center getting hands-on learning studying Newton's laws of motion and participating in physics experiments.
Students participate in Go-With-The-Flow Week
Thank you for your interest in Discovery Park's P-12 STEM Program. In this location at Purdue biological, physical and engineering research combines to create new discoveries that may both interest and inspire pre-college students, teachers and parents. Through this web page, the P-12 STEM Program intends to make educational resources based on this research more generally available to the public. We welcome your enquiries!
Address
P-12 STEM Programs
Mann Hall
203 S. Martin Jischke Drive
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1971
Christian Foster
Director of P-12 STEM Programs
