Following are the stories of a number of science projects recently funded by the Science House Foundation. You’ll learn more about the project, how the money was used, and perhaps even get a few ideas for how you can promote science yourself. Some of the project descriptions include photos and documentation to help schools generate similar results.
View grants by funding area:
Funding for 10 scholarships for underrepresented preteen Utah girls to attend the "Attend Westminster, Explore Science, Use Math" a.k.a. AWE+SUM camp at Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah in July 2010. The camp is a residential camp for girls entering 8th grade that focuses on hands-on workshops and activities in science, math, computer programming, aviation, and finance.
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | General |
| AGE: | Middle School |
| LOCATION: | Utah |
Science House is funding materials and equipment to enable high school physics students to construct a functional scanning tunneling microscope, in partnership with a two local colleges. The students will be optimizing a working prototype, constructed with parts costing $300 - $500, which they will use in classroom research.
One of the goals of this project is to develop plans for a functioning and affordable STM, which the students will be sharing on the Science House website, in addition to video footage showing the STM being built. Keep an eye out as we post these materials over the next few months!
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | Physics |
| AGE: | High School |
| LOCATION: | Nebraska |
Science House is helping fund an after school science program in Pokuase Ghana, based on ether successful Science Club for Girls program in Boston. Funding is going towards materials for the club and teacher trainings and meetings, to ensure that teachers have the opportunity to exchange information on best practice. The club is being set up in collaboration with a local University in Ghana. Science Club for Girls reports from a recent trip to Ghana
"The ideas of hands-on explorations and using guided questions as a learning tool were new, but welcome. Thanks to the support of Science House, about eighty 4th grade girls in four different schools are attending clubs this year. We hope that this venture will not only benefit the girls who come, but will change how these dozen teachers teach science in their own classrooms, multiplying the impact."
See their blog for more information on the project.
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | General |
| AGE: | Middle School |
| LOCATION: | Pokuase, Ghana |
The Maths Centre provides teacher training and student resources for math, science, technology and entrepreneurship education throughout schools in South Africa. In schools where the Math Centre has active programs, students' understanding of math and science concepts has noticeably increased. The programs also help students to find opportunities in math, engineering and entrepreneurship-based careers and to realize the importance of these skills for their future.
Science House funding is helping to support the Maths Centre's mathematics literacy programs in elementary schools throughout the country.
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | Math |
| AGE: | Elementary |
| LOCATION: | South Africa |
Science Club for Girls aims to increase the self-confidence and science literacy of girls, especially those from under-represented backgrounds. Science House provided funding to help support the club's after-school science meets, where girls come along to learn science and do educational experiments with the guidance of mentors. Enrollment in the programs is free to all girls, to encourage maximum participation. Funding also went towards a "reverse science fair", where scientists from local universities brought along experiments, which kids got to judge!
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | All Sciences |
| AGE: | Elementary School |
| LOCATION: | Boston |
Science House is funding scholarships for six students from Latin America to participate in a Worldwide Online Math Program run by the Art of Problem Solving, an organization that provides educational materials and courses for gifted students who seek a greater challenge in mathematics.
The math program is a 7 month course that prepares students for the International Mathematics Olympiads. It offers practice in challenging math problems beyond the scope of what students would ever see in school, and teaches student skills to be able to find solutions to these problems. The students also receive instruction and feedback from experienced mentors, who have a deep and extensive understanding of math, and have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the top high school math students in the world.
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | Math |
| AGE: | High School |
| LOCATION: | South America |
Green thumb and expert arborist Bridgette Suzanne Smith together with her team of enthusiastic junior volunteers at the Greenburgh Nature Center in Scarsdale, New York, planted a total of 200 seedlings at their Earth Day celebration on April 19. The seedlings donated by Science House will one day grow to around 60 feet tall. Their life expectancy is 130 years.
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | Horticulture |
| AGE: | K-12 |
| LOCATION: | New York area |
Girls' Angle, a Cambridge-based math club for girls, has begun production on a "Women in Mathematics" video series. These 5-10 minute videos feature working female mathematicians explaining elementary mathematical facts that excited them when they were young. New videos appear bimonthly at www.girlsangle.org.
| TYPE: | Education & Training |
| SUBJECT: | Math |
| AGE: | Middle School |
| LOCATION: | Boston |