Math and Science Programs
Artemis Project
The Artemis Project is a five-week summer day camp for rising 9th grade girls in the Providence area. It is run by four Brown undergraduate women, in connection with the Computer Science Department. Artemis is designed to encourage and inspire young women in science and technology. The students learn both concrete computer skills and abstract computer science concepts through a variety of projects and activities in a positive and encouraging environment.
Brain Awareness Week
Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is a series of events held around the world to increase public awareness about the brain. Brown's BAW activities are organized by Lecturer John Stein in the Neuroscience Department. Through BAW, Brown students conduct presentations and hands-on activities in local schools.
Contact
John Stein, Lecturer
Department of Neuroscience
401-863-2263
John_Stein@brown.edu
Classroom Module Program ("BrownOut")
The Center for Advanced Materials Research coordinates the Classroom Module Program. A module is a presentation, with hands-on demonstrations, on a variety of topics in science. With the assistance of the Center's staff who help align the modules with the Rhode Island science curriculum, Brown students create and present modules in K-12 classrooms throughout Providence and Rhode Island. The presentations are free of charge and available to public, parochial or private schools, as well as science clubs and organizations.
Contact
Heather Johnson, Program Coordinator
Center for Advanced Materials Research
401-863-3607
Heather_Johnson@brown.edu
Community Health Clerkship and Field Experience
The Community Health Clerkship is an applied learning experience designed to help develop in Brown University medical students the knowledge, skills and perspectives of community health that are necessary to become a complete, highly competent physician. It is hoped that the clerkship will help foster in students an informed sense of social responsibility and help students develop the skills needed to become strong patient advocates and community leaders in areas important to the public's health. As part of the clerkship, medical students must complete a field experience in the community that will allow them to focus on a specific public health issue. For the past few years, The MET School in Providence has served as a field experience placement. Medical students work with MET students and staff on projects that contribute to teaching and learning at the MET and provide medical students with a deeper understanding of community heath issues. Past project topics include sexual harassment in schools, HIV/AIDS prevention, and school-based preventative health.
Contact
Joann Barao, Coordinator
Department of Community Health
401-863-3699
Joanna_Barao@brown.edu
CS92: Education Software
CS92 is a unique course in Brown's Computer Science Department which offers Brown students the opportunity to create instructional software for local K-12 classrooms based on the requests and specifications of classroom teachers. Since 1990, students in the CS92 seminar have created software for numerous teachers from a variety of Providence schools including Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, Nathan Bishop Middle School, and Classical High School. Past projects, downloadable software, and more information may be found at: http://cs.brown.edu/courses/cs092/
Contact
Roger Blumberg, Assistant Professor
Computer Science Department
401-863-7619
Roger_Blumberg@brown.edu
Empowering Your Future
Empowering Your Future is a one-day conference for middle school girls and their parents and teachers. The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Advanced Materials Research and the Division of Engineering at Brown. The conference is intended for girls in Grades 8-10 and exposes them to real life applications of math and science in a fun and educational environment. The conference also features special information sessions for parents and accompanying adults, focusing on helping girls with study skills, and on financial aid and other college-preparatory concerns. This is an excellent opportunity for girls and their parents or accompanying adults to find out more about the possibilities that science, math, and engineering offer. Additionally, teachers who attend are able to get new ideas they might use in their own classrooms.
Contact
Heather Johnson, Program Coordinator
Center for Advanced Materials Research
401-863-3607
Heather_Johnson@brown.edu
GK-12 Science Education Program
For the past few years, Professor Timothy Herbert has worked with graduate students in Geology on conducting weekly science lessons in two classrooms in the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School. Recently, funding was secured from the National Science Foundation in the form of a GK-12 grant to help this outreach program continue and expand to several other elementary and high schools beginning in July 2007. Brown graduate students from several departments including Geology, Physics, and Engineering will lead classroom and after-school activities in several elementaryand high schools in Providence. The graduate students engage Providence students in hands-on, inquiry based activities designed to increase students' understanding of and interest in science. The NSF funding also supports training and paid summer internships for Providence teachers and students to participate in research projects with Brown graduate students and faculty.
Contact
Karen Haberstroh, Director of Science Education Outreach
401-863-2858
Karen-Marie_Haberstroh@brown.edu
Girls Math and Science Initiative
The Girls Math and Science Initiative offers intensive science education for middle school girls at Sophia Academy. Brown volunteers work weekly with girls in 5th through 8th grade to introduce girls to the physical sciences through experiential and interdisciplinary activities.
Contact
Howard Swearer Center for Public Service
401-863-2338
Observational Cosmology Lab Experience
For the past two summers, Professor Gregory Tucker has taken local high school teachers into his Observational Cosmology lab where they are given the opportunity to conduct research and develop lessons that can be integrated into after-school science programs. Professor Tucker also involves undergraduate and graduate students in Physics in these teacher training sessions and after-school activities. Providence's Central High School and Health, Science and Technology Academy have participated in the past.
Contact
Gregory Tucker, Associate Professor
Department of Physics
401-863-1441
Gregory_Tucker@brown.edu
OLEEP - Outdoor Leadership and Environmental Education Project
OLEEP, a partnership with the MET School, facilitates the development of high school student leadership by connecting experiences in the wilderness and in the city. Through one-on-one mentoring, weekly workshops in the school and community, and camping, backpacking and ropes course trips, the program develops individual awareness and skills as well as a community in which Brown and MET students learn from each other.
Contact
Howard Swearer Center for Public Service
401-863-2338
PCEP - Pre College Enrichment Program in Science
PCEP offers 9th and 10th grade students at Hope and Central high schools engaging academic enrichment. Students meet on the Brown campus and work in small mentoring groups to develop relationships throughout the year.
Contact
Howard Swearer Center for Public Service
401-863-2338
Physics 11
Physics 11: Inner Space Outer Space is a freshman seminar that explores topics on the frontiers of physics, particle physics, and cosmology. The course culminates with Brown students bringing hands-on, interactive lessons on a variety of topics into local high schools. In the past, students have conducted lessons in classrooms at Hope High School, School One, The MET, and Lincoln School.
Contact
David Cutts, Professor
Department of Physics
401-863-2422
David_Cutts@brown.edu
Project ARISE: Advancing Rhode Island Science Education
Project ARISE is an NIH-funded professional development program for Rhode Island high school science teachers. This program is designed to engage teachers and students in inquiry-based approaches to learning about science and improve the understanding of the relevance of science to everyday life. The goal of the program is to develop the tools and perspective that will enable high school teachers to integrate high–level concepts in molecular and genomic biology, bioinformatics, neuroscience and physiology into the high school classroom. Teachers participate in a summer professional development institute and then are provided with materials and support throughout the school year. The first cohort of high school teachers will begin in summer 2007.
Contact
Jennifer Aizenman, Curriculum Design Specialist
Summer and Continuing Studies
401-863-3798
Jennifer_Aizenman@brown.edu
Providence Science Outreach (PSO)
Providence Science Outreach seeks to enhance science education for Providence public school 5th graders by making science accessible and enjoyable. Teaching teams work for a full year in a classroom, facilitating weekly sessions that emphasize hands-on experiments.
Contact
Dilania Inoa, Literacy and School Coordinator
Swearer Center for Public Service
401-863-1024
Dilania_Inoa@brown.edu
REACT RI
REACT RI is a Youth Health Service Program of the R.I. Area Health Education Center. Participating students from local schools attend weekly trainings in health care related issues and work 15 hours per week at health care placement sites, including Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro Hospital, Memorial Hospital, Miriam Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital for Specialty Care and Chad Brown Health Center. The students work at these sites in different capacities, and are exposed to a myriad of health professionals. A primary goal of the program is to interest students in pursuing health careers. Specifically, the program encourages young people from underserved communities to become health professionals, and to return to work in those communities.
Contact
Chris Tanguay, Executive Director
Central RI Area Health Education Center (AHEC)
Warren Alpert Medical School
401-383-5831
Research Experience for Teachers (RET)
The primary mission of the RET program is to build relationships with high school teachers in order to introduce modern engineering into their curricula, to engage teachers in an exciting research environment, and to develop with them teaching modules that can be used in high school and college classrooms. The program works primarily with science teachers, however, teachers in fields such as art, economics, and math are considered through a team teaching approach.
Contact
Heather Johnson, Program Coordinator
401-863-3607
Heather_Johnson@brown.edu
Rhode Island Space Grant Science Education Outreach Program
The Rhode Island Space Grant (RISG), a consortium of local colleges and universities based at Brown, works with local K-12 teachers and schools through a variety of science education outreach programs, including the "The Teacher Partnership Program", "Science En Espanol", and the "Hot Topic" workshop. During each of the past two years, RISG Fellows and Scholars from Brown and other local colleges and universities have given over 200 classroom presentations (reaching approximately 6000 children each year) on a variety of science topics to K-12 grades in schools in every community throughout Rhode Island. Economically disadvantaged urban public schools frequently have limited science resources. RISG has set up more formal "partnership" programs with several such elementary, middle and high schools in Providence.
Contact
Dorcas Metcalf, Program Manager
Rhode Island Space Grant
401-863-1151
Dorcas_Metcalf@brown.edu
Teacher Training Workshop
The Teacher Training Workshop provides middle and high school teachers with professional development through a 15-hour training session on the area of materials science. The Brown faculty who participate hold degrees in a wide range of science and engineering fields, including materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, chemistry, and math. This diversity is reflected in the materials that are presented in the workshop, which cover a variety of different topics. Many of the materials presented have been used in K-12 classrooms, and some of the materials were developed by local middle and high school teachers, in collaboration with Brown faculty. Some of the materials presented in the workshop are also designed to give teachers an introduction to advanced materials research that is being conducted at Brown and elsewhere. Professional development credits from the Rhode Island Department of Education are awarded to participating teachers.
Contact
Heather Johnson, Program Coordinator
401-863-3607
Heather_Johnson@brown.edu
TeachScheme
The TeachScheme project addresses the growing divide between the high school and college computer science curricula. The project reaches out to teachers who wish to understand and incorporate an innovative teaching method of introductory computer science into their high-school classrooms. The program is a five-day intensive workshop alternating between the lab and the classroom.
Contact
Shriram Krishnamurthi, Associate Professor
Computer Science Department
401-863-7722
Shriram_Krishnamurthi@brown.edu