International Film Series featuring Children and Youth
Professor Willem Van Vliet
Children, Youth, and Environments Center
This international film series will highlights the social and physical spaces of children in a variety of countries from around the World. Targeted for middle and high school students in the Boulder area, the series will include seven films that feature children in primary roles and will provide an entree into the lives of children from diverse countries. Visit http://thunder1.cudenver.edu/cye/ for more information.
Learning Landscapes: A University-Community Partnership to Improve School Grounds in BVSD through Service-Learning Courses
Professor Willem Van Vliet
Children, Youth, and Environments Center
This project will work with in the Boulder Valley School District to help create 32 Learning Landscapes at area school grounds during the next three years. Through service learning courses taught at the CU-Boulder campus, undergraduate students will work with administrators, teachers, students, parents, and community members to co-develop detailed plans for each schoolyard. Visit http://thunder1.cudenver.edu/cye/ for more information.
Multi-Cultural Youth Engagement: A Certificate Program for CU-Boulder Undergraduates to Engage Local Youth in Community Action Projects
Associate Dean and Professor Peter Schneider
The primary goal of this project is to engage a diverse population of Boulder County youth (14-19 year olds) in meaningful community-based action projects. To accomplish this systematically, a multi-cultural youth certificate program will be established for undergraduate students that will connect the City of Boulder and the Boulder Valley School District with a interdisciplinary campus coalition with direct focus on supporting the development of youth leaders that reflect diverse demographics.
5th Day of the Dead Annual Celebration at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
Associate Professor Arturo Aldama
Department of Ethnic Studies
This multi-cultural project features a series of exhibits and events hosted at the CU Museum, each designed to provide a greater understanding of the richness of Day of the Dead cultural traditions. Visit http://cumuseum.colorado.edu for more information.
Attention, Behavior, and Learning Clinic
Associate Professor Erik Willcutt and Research Associate Nomita Chhabildas
Department of Psychology
This clinic provides comprehensive evaluations for children who are experiencing academic, behavioral, and/or emotional difficulties. The clinic operates on a sliding scale, which allows many low-income families to access these services at low to no cost. The clinic also provides a valuable educational experience for graduate students working in the clinic. Visit http://psych.colorado.edu/~clinical/raimy/child.html for more information.
Boulder Café Scientifique
Professor Michael Breed, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Professor Darin Toohey, Baker Residential Academic Program and PAOS; and Professor Martin Walter, Department of Mathematics
These monthly talks are hosted in a downtown Boulder restaurant and designed specifically to share scientific expertise. The 20-25 minute presentations are followed by dynamic conversation and discussion around the topic. Visit www.cafesciboulder.org for more information.
Colorado Math Circle
Professor Congming Li and Senior Instructor Anne Dougherty
Department of Applied Mathematics
Math Circle brings together Colorado’s top students for adventures in mathematical problem solving, while challenging them to use creativity and ingenuity. The project’s primary goal is to stimulate, support and enrich the best young math minds in Colorado. Visit www.coloradomath.org for more information.
Dance Outreach Initiatives
Associate Professor Toby Hankin and Professor Nada Diachenko
Department of Theatre and Dance
This project brings the work of the dance faculty directly to K-12 students across Colorado to encourage youth of many backgrounds to express creativity through dance, to educate K-12 teachers and students about the variety of approaches to the dance arts, and to nurture a vital level of interaction among various populations of Colorado. Visit the website for more information.
Developing Evidence-Based Treatment for Postpartum Depression: Partnership with Community Clinicians
Assistant Professor Sona Dimidjian
Department of Psychology
This project assists the Community Infant Program in developing of a specialty program focused on the treatment of postpartum depression. The pilot of the program will involve 15 new moms and their children in order to evaluate the efficacy of treating postpartum depression through dialectical behavior therapy. Visit http://psych-www.colorado.edu for more information.
Educating Lawmakers and Criminal Justice Professionals About Parole Revocation
Associate Professor Sara Steen
Department of Sociology
This project consists of data collection and analysis of about how criminals find themselves returning to prison due to technical parole violations. Colorado’s state legislature has made it a priority to find ways of reducing society’s reliance on incarceration and this project serves to directly provide the necessary data and information for the commission’s review. Many of those currently serving time in Colorado prisons are there now because of technical parole violations. Visit http://sobek.colorado.edu/SOC/ for more information.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of a School-Based Curriculum to Improve Outcomes among Latina Adolescent Mothers: Partnership with Community Clinicians
Assistant Professor Sona Dimidjian
Department of Psychology
Dr. Dimidjian and CU-Boulder students will provide evaluation assistance for a new program that uses a school-based curriculum created by the Community Infant Program. The new tools aim to teach teen mothers positive parenting, distress tolerance, and self-regulation skills. Visit http://psych-www.colorado.edu
Fossils and the Natural World: Museum Training and Support for 3rd Grade Teachers
Assistant Professor Dena Smith
Department of Geological Sciences and CU Museum Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology
This project will work to develop and implement a professional K-12 program that incorporates the state’s new science standard, “fossils are evidence of past life.” Teacher workshops, fieldtrips to the CU Museum, and other support will be facilitated directly with the science curriculum coordinator from the Boulder Valley School District. Visit cumuseum.colorado.edu for more information.
Girls At the Museum Exploring Science (GAMES): An after-school science program at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
Assistant Professor Christy McCain, Museum and Field Studies/Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with Dr. Cathy Regan, Museum and Field Studies
GAMES is a unique program developed to encourage interest and excitement about science in preadolescent girls (4th and 5th grade). Consisting of 7 weekly after school visits to the CU Museum, it allows the girls to explore archaeology, botany, entomology, paleontology and zoology through hands-on activity and direct interaction with scientists and museum professionals. Visit cumuseum.colorado.edu for more information.
Intercultural Communication: Problem-centered research and student engagement in the local community
Senior Instructor Jane Elvins and Lecturer Melinda Cain
Department of Communication
Faculty and students from the Department of Communications will engage with community efforts to build respectful communities through cultural understanding and effective intercultural communications. In partnership with the highly successful local nonprofit group serving immigrant populations, Intercambio de Comunidades, faculty and students will design and customize intercultural trainings and workshops for adult immigrant English-learning students, volunteers, and donors in Boulder County. Visit http://comm.colorado.edu for more information.
INVST Community Studies and Centaurus High School: Helping Youth Become Active Citizens
Instructor Sabrina Sideris and Instructor Elaina Verveer
INVST Community Studies
Through development and delivery of the “Active Learners, Active Citizens” workshop to Centaurs High School in east Boulder County, this project will introduce teachers to the idea of using service learning in their classes as a tool for school and community reform. It will establish a community dialogue on leadership development and the power and potential of the youth voice. Visit www.colorado.edu/communitystudies for more information.
Making Government Local
Professor Kenneth Bickers
Department of Political Science
This project works to introduce high school students in the St. Vrain Valley School District to social science modes of inquiry; specifically those used by scholars and college students. The project will develop a set of modules on social surveys and a set of surveys conducted by high school students with local and state government candidates. Visit http://polsci.colorado.edu
Math Year 3
Professor Eric Stade
Department of Mathematics
This program provides monthly professional development workshops for teachers, weekly after-school math workshops for students, resource support for the Talented and Gifted Program, and individual tutoring at Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer Elementary School in Lafayette. Now in its third year, the project has invigorated the mathematics program at Pioneer by providing requested support for both teachers and students. It also strengthens the mathematics education of the CU-Boulder students by providing them with significant experiential learning opportunities. Visit math.colorado.edu for more information.
The Robert D. Sutherand Center for the Evaluation and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder
Professor David Miklowitz and Research Associate Alisha Brosse
Department of Psychology
The Center provides comprehensive psychological and psychiatric services, at a greatly reduced fee, to people in the community who could not otherwise afford them. The project involves weekly case conferences with graduate student therapists and the Center director. The Center also covers laboratory costs that are a key component to providing expert psychiatric care to its patients, most of who cannot afford the lab work and therefore comprehensive care. Visit http://www.rdsfoundation.org/sutherlandcenter for more information.
Saturday Physics Series
Professor John Cumalat
Department of Physics
Now in its 7th year, this program features monthly public presentations that highlight research and the application of physical sciences, while exposing high school students and the community to the work of some of CU-Boulder’s best physical sciences faculty. Talks are presented at the high school junior and senior level and generally attract between 80 to 180 audience members. Visit www.colorado.edu/physics/Web/Saturday for more information.
Shakespeare Unplugged
Associate Professor Bud Coleman
Department of Theater and Dance
Theatre faculty and students will create an educational performance that will make Shakespeare’s language and characters accessible to school-aged audiences grades 3-5. The program will be toured to local schools and will incorporate teacher feedback. Visit www.colorado.edu/TheatreDance for more information.
Workshop for K-12 Educators in Hearing Loss Prevention
Associate Professor Kathryn Hoberg Arehart
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
Now in its fourth year, this program works to educate school children about the importance of taking care of their hearing. Workshops, for teachers and others who work with Colorado’s students, include instruction in the science of sound, human hearing, hearing health, and dangerous decibels. Interactive materials and activities that educators can use in their schools are also provided. Visit slhs.colorado.edu for more information.
Economic Development Information Outreach
Associate Professor Richard Wobbekind
This project works to provide Colorado counties with updated information about the current conditions of their local economies and potential opportunities for growth and development. Communities can then utilize this custom information in their local decision-making and economic marketing. Faculty serve as principal researchers, analysts, and lead presenters, while students work to update county specific materials and assist in the work sessions with the individual communities. Visit leeds.colorado.edu for more information.
Amazing Space: Re-Imagining Literature Instruction in a Public High School
Associate Professor William McGinley
This partnership engages teachers and students from Boulder’s Monarch High Scholl and CU-Boulder faculty in conversations about the nature of literature instruction. It works to explore a range of topics from pursuing a more humanities-based approach to English/Language Arts instruction, to improving writing instruction through a seminar series for teachers, formal and informal forums for teachers and students, and a regular re-examination of specific day-to-day teaching practices. Visit http://www.colorado.edu/education/centersoutreach/outreach.html for more information.
Golaso! The Boulder County Goals for Life Project
Associate Professor Jeffrey Frykholm
This program will enhance the academic, athletic, and community experiences of low SES and potentially at-risk Latino/Latina youth in Boulder County through a unique and inventive educational approach. After school mathematics and literacy tutoring will be provided twice a week, alternating daily with high level soccer training, to help shepherd these 5th and 6th grades through middle school transition. Visit http://www.colorado.edu/education for more information.
Helping Teachers Implement the Haitian National Math Curriculum (“Curriculum de L’Ecole Fondamental: Les Mathematiques”) in a Rural School
Associate Professor Jeffrey Frykholm
A mathematics education instruction program will be created to familiarize Haiti’s teachers with the national math curriculum and standards and incorporate daily formative assessment. The teacher education program will be delivered in conjunction with the nonprofit organization, Colorado Haiti Project, to provide teachers with engaging and effective instruction techniques. Visit http://www.colorado.edu/education for more information.
TREO
Assistant Professor Elizabeth Dutro
This research collaboration with five K-12 teachers in the Boulder/Denver area will work to examine and intervene in areas related to equity and opportunity for culturally and linguistically diverse and low-income students. The goal is to create a research model to build and disseminate understanding about how students are positioned within the classrooms, the factors that influence opportunities to build positive schooling relationships, and strategies for increasing school engagement and success. Visit http://www.colorado.edu/education for more information.
Assessing the Extent of Mercury Contamination in the Reservoirs, Lakes, and Streams of Southwestern Colorado
Professor Joe Ryan
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering
In conjunction with the Mountain Studies Institute in Silverton, the Southern Ute Tribe’s Environmental Programs Division, and the Pine River Watershed Group, Professor Ryan and CU-Boulder Engineering students will augment the efforts of the community groups in assessing the sources, deposition, and risks of mercury in the southwestern Colorado region. The research will focus on sampling, analysis, and evaluation of mercury in reservoirs, lakes, and streams in the area. Visit www.colorado.edu/ceae/environmental/ryan/ for more information.
Geometry on the Sphere: An Interactive Exploration of Non-Euclidean Ideas for K-12 Students
Associate Professor Michael Eisenberg
Department of Computer Science
This project develops an interactive programming environment for Fiske Planetarium’s new Science on a Sphere display. Designed for middle and high school students, the tool will allow for real-time interaction with the globe. Visit http://fiske.colorado.edu for more information.
Tele–Education in the Amazon Region of Peru: The Second Phase
Associate Professor Alan Mickelson, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor Bernard Amadei, Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering
The Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC) Program has been working to implement tele-education (distribution of educational materials via the internet) in a portion of the Loreto Region of Peru for several years. Now in the second phase, the project will work to test the capability of inexpensive cell phone technology to be used to develop a cell phone modem based network for education and medical service throughout the region surrounded by the Napo and Amazon rivers. Visit http://www.edc-cu.org/ for more information.
Natural Resources Law Center: Intermountain Oil and Gas Best Management Practices
Research Assoc. Kathryn Mutz
A database and subsequent web site will be created to serve as a resource for Colorado stakeholders affected by oil and gas development to better understand what are the most innovative and environmentally sensitive practices in current use. A forum and workshop will be held to reach a broader Colorado audience and will focus on public participation in oil and gas development and encourage a wide variety of stakeholders to both use and contribute materials to the database. Visit http://www.colorado.edu/Law/centers/nrlc/ for more information.