Programs for Teachers
ArtsLiteracy Project
The ArtsLiteracy Project (ArtsLit) is dedicated to developing the literacy of youth through the performing and visual arts. Based in the Education Department at Brown, ArtsLit gathers an international community of artists, teachers, youth, college students, and professors with the goal of collaboratively creating innovative approaches to literacy development through the arts.
Contact
Kurt Wootton, Director
ArtsLiteracy Project
401-863-7017
Kurt_Wootton@brown.edu
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
CHOICES for the 21st Century
CHOICES for the 21st Century is an educational outreach program of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Through its curricular resources, professional development programs, and special projects, CHOICES engages secondary level students in current and historical international issues and contributes to a renewal of civic engagement among young people in the United States.
Contact
Susan Graseck, Director
The Choices Program
401-863-3155
Susan_Graseck@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
Diversity Professional Development for Providence Teachers
At the request of the Superintendent of Providence Public Schools, President Simmons has allocated funds to support the School Department's efforts to provide teachers with professional development on issues of diversity. These funds will allow staff at Brown's Education Alliance to work with School Department staff on reviewing and developing diversity professional development initiatives.
Contact
Maria Pacheco, Director
Equity and Diversity Projects
Education Alliance
401-863-9550
Maria_Pacheco@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
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
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
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 Debate League
The Rhode Island Debate League sponsors both policy and parliamentary debate programs at area middle and high schools. The League is a partnership with the Open Society Institute, the Rhode Island Foundation, the Providence and Woonsocket Public Schools and the Olneyville Community Schools. Students conduct in-depth research in preparation for competitive debate. Brown students work with high school teachers to coach students in research, public speaking, and creating effective arguments. Participants are encouraged to use their voices as instruments for public action and personal development. Teachers are offered professional development opportunities to use debate in their classrooms.
Contact
Howard Swearer Center for Public Service
401-863-2338
Rhode Island Network (RINET)
Brown University's Computing and Information Services Department has worked with a host of organizations to create the Rhode Island Network (RINET). RINET allows Rhode Island teachers, students, and librarians to bring information from around the world to their classroom through the Internet. By working in partnership with the University of Rhode Island, the R.I. Department of Education, the Department of State Library Services, WSBE Channel 36, and NYNEX, RINET has addressed a range of technical, financial, and training issues to ensure that the network will be easily accessible in all classrooms. Brown faculty and staff created network designs, suggested techniques to run the network effectively, and prototyped the system. Brown has also provided computer accounts to teachers involved in collaborative projects, assisted with training, loaned its facilities for RINET use, and made its public computer services available to users of the network.
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
Sarah Doyle Women's Center Internships & Training
The Sarah Doyle Women's Center hosts interns from the Feinstein High School during the school year. Feinstein students are required to do an internship in order to graduate. The Center is also a sight for information on gender issues and conducts trainings for Brown students and community members, including teachers, through partnerships with the Swearer Center, local schools, and other community agencies.
Contact
Gail Cohee, Director
Sarah Doyle Women's Center
401-863-3402
Gail_Cohee@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