Learning to Teach and the Pedagogy of Adult Community Mentors in an Urban After School Literacy Program
Associate Professor Bill McGinley, School of Education
Award: $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: Latino and African American adults and elementary students from Denver’s Five Points and Curtis Park neighborhoods
This project brings together university faculty, undergraduate pre-service teachers and adult mentors from the neighborhoods in an effort to bring educational opportunities to young children. All work together in an urban community center to provide an after school literacy program for culturally diverse students called Literacy and Learning for Life. Additionally, the program provides a context for CU-Boulder pre-service teachers to conceptualize teaching itself as a form of community action and involvement. This work is part of a larger research and outreach effort in the School of Education called Project BLUES that provides pedagogical support to similar collaborations that involve faculty and students.
Simply the Best
Professor Margaret Eisenhart, School of Education
Award: $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: Latina and African American middle and high school girls from Denver’s Five Points neighborhood.
This unique collaboration among CU-Boulder researchers in basic science, education and anthropology offers after-school workshops in science and technology. The curriculum is specially designed to interest girls in pursuing education and careers in these fields and to help them become more successful throughout life. The project also strives to create an enduring impact in the cultural structure of this neighborhood and has just expanded to include programs at a second location. Professor Eisenhart also incorporates her research into the project, the focus being youth culture and peer influence on career choices.
Philosophy Outreach Program of Colorado
Associate Professor Claudia Mills and Senior Instructor Sheralee Brindell, Department of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $7,300 for 2 years
Target Audience: high school students and senior citizen groups from across Colorado (new priority given to hosting visits for ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged schools)
Now entering its seventh year, the Philosophy Outreach Program of Colorado sends philosophy faculty and graduate students into middle and high school classrooms to offer a formal introduction to philosophy and its techniques. Additionally, the program makes regular visits to senior citizen centers to engage participants in the kind of critical reflection that philosophy promotes. Classes involve lectures and discussions in all subject areas, from English and the arts to economics and the basic sciences.
CU-Boulder Contemporary Dance Works
Associate Professor Nada Diachenko, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: K-12 schools and community groups throughout Colorado’s San Luis Valley
This touring dance company comprised of CU-Boulder students brings dance demonstrations, classes and informal lectures to rural towns in Colorado. This grant funds the focusing of the program in San Luis Valley communities for the next two years. Hoping to evoke an enthusiasm for learning through movement, dancers visit K-12 schools, senior and community centers as well as private dance studios. Dancers will visit the communities for nine days each of the next two springs to enhance the work started there this past season.
Living Shakespeare in the Schools
Professor Richard Devin, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: K-12 students from across Colorado
A performance based series of workshops and learning activities that are tailored to the needs of Colorado K-12 students and teachers. A total immersion approach engages the students as actors to assist them as they hone decision-making skills, practice personal responsibility, learn collective cooperation and harness their imagination. The program meets not only Colorado Standards in Education for theater, but also standards in reading and writing, history and civics.
Physics for Fun in Pueblo
Professor Margaret Murnane, Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences in partnership with Carol McLaren, director, CU Science Discovery
Award: $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: middle school students in Pueblo 60 School District
Each summer, this project will provide two days of professional development workshops for Pueblo middle school teachers. Workshops will be delivered by CU faculty and offer one academic credit through CU-Boulder’s Division of Continuing Education. Additionally, CU faculty and program coordinators will work to develop science kits for the district to use in its Science Materials Center. Topics during the two-year partnership will include light, force and motion, convection, heat and sound.
Summer Institute in Applied Math
Senior Instructor and Associate Chair Anne Dougherty, Department of Applied Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences
Awards: $5,000 and $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: 45 high school math teachers, statewide
This project fosters and strengthens the relationships among K-12 and university mathematics programs with content-based professional development workshops. The state’s increased emphasis on standards-based curricula demands that math teachers cover topics for which they are not fully prepared. This program offers intensive two-week courses in calculus, discrete math and probability/statistics. The program is expanding to include courses designed in response to requests from specific school districts as well as the addition of a workshop focusing on algebra.
Summer Philosophy Institute of Colorado
Associate Professor Claudia Mills and Senior Instructor Sheralee Brindell, Department of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $5,000
Target Audience: economically disadvantaged high school students from across Colorado
This project features a weeklong residential academic program that offers diverse high school students an intensive introduction to philosophy. Students are exposed to the methods and subject matter of philosophy. Topics range from free will and determinism, and the relation between mind and body, to the nature of knowledge, and the meaning of life. While living in residence halls on campus, the students attend six hours of class each day and take part in activities throughout the Boulder campus and community.
Dance High School Visitation Day
Associate Professor David Capps, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $916
Target Audience: 120 high school students from across Colorado
High school teachers and students visit campus and participate in dance technique classes, lighting demonstrations, creative process laboratories and a fully produced performance with CU-Boulder students. Primary objectives are to encourage high school students to consider careers in the dance field, to raise awareness of the comprehensive training offered at CU-Boulder and to educate teachers and students about the variety of arts approaches and related careers available in the professional world.
Shakespeare Summer Partnerships
Professor Richard Devin, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $5,000
Target Audience: high, middle and elementary school students from metro Denver counties as well as Western Slope and eastern Colorado towns
The project is a combination of intensive on-site in-reach programs designed to make Shakespeare’s works and the CSF productions more accessible to young people, their parents and teachers. By providing a series of scholarly activities and performances associated with the 2002 Colorado Shakespeare Festival season, this program introduces to these communities not only Shakespeare but also the campus itself and the many benefits of the University, in an organized, educational and entertaining way.
Saturday Science Series
Professor John Cumalat, Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $3,271.75
Target Audience: Colorado high school students and teachers and adults
Through eight public presentations, this program highlights research and the application of physical sciences. Subject matter includes topics in liquid crystals, condensed matter physics, atomic, molecular and optical physics, and nuclear physics. Each program will be videotaped and made available to Colorado science teachers.
Geology at Our Doorstep
Senior Instructor Alan Lester and Instructor Sandra Laursen, Department of Geological Sciences (together with CIRES Outreach), College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $4,996.32
Target Audience: all science teachers in the St. Vrain Valley School District
This program features the development of rock collections comprised of samples from Front Range geological formations and related educational materials. Building the collections is used as a professional development opportunity for K-12 teachers. This project also serves as a pilot for a similar statewide effort and an introduction of a CU-Boulder Earth science course for prospective teachers.
Italian Day at CU for Colorado High School Students
Professor Graziana Lazzarino and Instructor Pamela Marcantonio, Department of French and Italian, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $3,000
Target Audience: students learning Italian in Denver and Pueblo high schools
High school students visit the CU-Boulder campus to attend Italian classes, meet with faculty, tour the language lab and learn about new foreign language resources and admissions to CU-Boulder. Students end the day by enjoying an Italian dinner featuring cuisine from a region with which they will have been familiarized with campus faculty and instructors.
Science After School Program
Professor Tom Ranker, University of Colorado Museum
Award: $3,000
Target Audience: elementary school girls from Metro Denver
This five-week program is designed to interest girls in studying science. Teachers and students are in the museum twice each week exploring archeology, botany, entomology, paleontology and zoology through hands-on activities and working with museum curators.
Teachers as Scholars
Professor Jeffrey Cox, Director, Center for Humanities and the Arts, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $5,000
Target Audience: 150 teachers from the Boulder Valley School District
This project strengthens ties between CU-Boulder and K-12 faculty by operating on the premise that faculty at all levels share a common set of scholarly interests. K-12 teachers participate in small seminars led by professors in humanities, social sciences and sciences, reconnecting them to the world of scholarship. CU-Boulder faculty also visit classrooms to assist schools with their ongoing efforts to address standards and enhance curriculum.
Colorado History Day
Associate Professor Martha Hanna, Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences
Award: $5,000
Target Audience: 700 students in grades 6-12 from communities across Colorado
This yearlong humanities education program culminates each year with a statewide competition on the CU-Boulder campus, home of the state’s Colorado History Day office. The interdisciplinary program promotes historical inquiry, knowledge and understanding among middle and high school students. It has an important influence on the way history is taught and learned at the K-12 level by challenging students to conduct meaningful research in a positive learning environment.
Site Survey and Implementation of Water, Sanitation and Electrical Needs in the Village of Zambougou, Mali, Africa
Professor Bernard Amadei, Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science
Awards: $3,500 and $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: CU-Boulder engineering students and the 1500 to 2000 villagers in Zambougou
This outreach activity is dedicated to helping developing areas worldwide with their civil and environmental engineering needs, while involving the training of a new kind of internationally responsible engineering student. This specific project conducted a survey (2002) and will install (2003 and 2004) water, sanitation and electricity needs in the remote village of Zambougou. The actual design, installation and implementation of a practical engineering solution for the village involves CU engineering students and faculty partnering with Colorado engineering firms.
Girls Embrace Technology
Research Associate and Co-director Jackie Sullivan, ITLL; Professor Clayton Lewis, Computer Science; and Director Beverly Louie, Women in Engineering Program College of Engineering and Applied Science
Award: $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: thirty-six high school girls from surrounding communities (new emphasis on recruiting from schools with diverse populations)
This six-week summer internship for “techno neutral” high school girls explores their potential for careers in engineering and technology. The girls work in teams with CU-Boulder faculty and undergraduate students to develop real-world interactive educational multimedia software. Weekly lunches with women IT professionals, faculty and computer science students introduce possible education and career goals.
Contributing to the Remediation of Abandoned Mines in the Left Hand Creek Watershed with the Left Hand Watershed Oversight Group (LHWOG)
Associate Professor Joe Ryan, Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science
Award: $8,000 for 2 years
Target Audience: 375 residents of Jamestown, CO, the 14,000 Boulder County residents that drink Left Hand water and numerous community and government groups involved in the project
CU faculty and students assist LHWOG in preparing a community-driven proposal for remediation of abandoned mines. They will also carry out a detailed characterization of the effect of the mines on water quality during the initial stages of the remediation of the “stream-side tailings,” located adjacent to Jamestown. Project goals include submitting the proposal to the State of Colorado and US EPA for consideration as a possible grant in order to fund assessment reclamation and stream-side remediation, characterization of the stream-side tailings to assist in remediation planning, development of a new interdisciplinary course for CU students that addresses issues such as this that are facing communities in the West, and creation of a K-12 module for young learners statewide to get involved in this problem and solution.
Pre-College Engineering Success Institutes for Under-Served Students
Janet Degrazia, Senior Instructor, ITLL, David Aragon, Director, SEED Program
Award: $9,019.75 per year for 4 yrs. (now in its third year)
Target Audience: Under-served high school students who live within 40 miles of campus
An introduction to the joys and challenges of engineering. 9th graders are on campus for 2 days to do hands-on projects that explore general engineering principles; 10th graders are on campus with the 9th graders, but participate in more advanced thermodynamics and heat transfer engineering activities; 11th graders are on campus for 4 days to complete an engineering design project; AND 12th graders spend an entire 5-day week completing a rigorous design project similar to that offered in CU’s first-year engineering courses.
EXPORT
Associate Professor Keith Gresham, University Libraries
Award: $5,000
Target Audience: 2,000 high school students from communities across Colorado
Featuring a series of online modules and accompanying materials, this program is designed to help high school students and teachers learn searching principles and techniques. The modules are used in conjunction with both onsite and offsite visits by University Libraries faculty. The project goal is to more fully incorporate CU-Boulder information resources and faculty expertise into the coursework and curricular needs of Colorado high schools.
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