News :: Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach

Did you ever eat ice cream made with liquid nitrogen? Or gaze at the stars from inside a gigantic balloon? Or send a water bottle rocket into the night sky?

Students and their parents in Cane Ridge and Antioch area middle schools were invited to an evening of science fun at Cane Ridge High School last Tuesday evening. Over 400 participants chose to attend 6 of the more than 40 hands-on science activities during the two-hour event.

Sponsored by the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach in collaboration with Metro Nashville Public Schools, this event featured activities taught by science undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from four local universities.

"What makes this event so unique is the collaboration between four local universities: Tennessee State University, Fisk University, Austin Peay State University, and Vanderbilt University," said Jeannie Tuschl, a program coordinator at the Center for Science Outreach.  "I am thrilled and honored to have the resources to bring an event of this caliber into Metro Nashville Public Schools."

Dr. Tiffany Farmer, a research fellow also at the Center for Science Outreach, was instrumental in recruiting scientists who readily volunteered to spend an evening in a classroom with middle school students. Dr. Farmer stated, "Scientists are anxious to share their knowledge and expertise with students and their families."

Family Science Night provides an opportunity for scientists to share their passion for science, promote careers in science, and infuse science research into the community.  "We hope to inspire students to think about pursuing careers in science, technology or engineering," Dr. Farmer said. "Also, perhaps they will be encouraged to take more science classes in high school."

Metro Nashville Public School science teachers were invited to attend the event. They were treated to a wealth of ideas to take back to the classroom and inspired by the willingness of scientists to involve themselves in the education of middle schools students. Some teachers extended formal invitations to the scientists to personally visit their classrooms.

More than 80 scientists traded in their lab coats for the evening in lieu of a Family Science Night T-shirt designed by Rahma Abdlrahman, a seventh grader at Thurgood Marshall Middle School. The design was chosen from more than 100 submissions and featured a world bursting at the seams with nature.

Students received a "Safari Passport" as they arrived. Passports were stamped as they rotated through the activities. Trying to decide what to do and where to go first was difficult with so many interesting activities from which to choose. J.F. Kennedy Middle School seventh grader Samantha Powell headed directly to the ice cream station to find out how ice cream could be made with liquid nitrogen and how it would taste. When asked what she learned, Samantha referred to the magic sand which she identified as a hydrophobic. "I wasn’t fond of science until the Family Science Night, and now I love science," she said.

Dr. Barbara Ide, the principal at Thurgood Marshall Middle School, said that her students had a wonderful time and learned a lot about science.  "One of the seventh graders was delighted to be able to look at his own cheek cells under a microscope," she said.

Dr. Jennifer Ellis, postdoctoral fellow in Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, and Dr. Ide made plans to implement an endangered sunflower garden at Marshall. "I was intrigued by her research. That someone could actually identify endangered flowers amazes me and then to pinpoint it to Tennessee is even more amazing. They grow up to 15 feet tall and I am sure these flowers would look great in our school garden."

The goal of the evening was to stimulate excitement and build interest in science among middle school children, while involving parents in the educational process. The event ultimately provided an opportunity for children and their parents to work together conducting simple, inquiry-based, age-appropriate, hands-on science activities; observe scientific demonstrations; and talk with scientists to find out more about the latest developments in science, math, and engineering in Nashville.

Planning is underway for a Family Science Safari for the Antioch and Cane Ridge Clusters Middle Schools. Invited middle schools include Antioch Middle School, Apollo Middle School, John F. Kennedy Middle School, and Thurgood Marshall Middle School.

This event is hosted by Thurgood Marshall Middle School at Cane Ridge High School on Tuesday, November 11th, from 6:30 -8:30 PM.

Approximately 150 scientists, STEM graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State University, Meharry Medical College, Fisk University, and Austin Peay State University will be conducting hands-on science activities. Students and parents will rotate through approximately six of the activities at 15 minute intervals. All MNPS science teachers and their families are also invited.

Find out more at the Family Science Night webpage.

We invite you to join us for a presentation by Richard Louv, author of the national best seller Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. The CSO is excited to co-sponsor this event along with the National Wildlife Federation, Nashville Metro Parks, and others.

Admission is FREE and the talk will be held on Monday, November 10, 6pm at Hume-Fogg High School.

The recipient of the 2008 Audubon Medal, Richard Louv identified a phenomenon we all knew existed but couldn't quite articulate: nature-deficit disorder. Since its initial publication, his book has created a national conversation about the disconnection between children and nature, and his message has galvanized an international movement. Now, three years later, we have reached a tipping point, with the book inspiring Leave No Child Inside initiatives throughout the country.

Hailed as "an absolute must-read" by the Boston Globe and "too tantalizing to ignore" by Audubon magazine, Last Child in the Woods is the inspiring work that proves children need nature as much as nature needs children.

We look forward to all of our CSO colleagues, program participants, families and friends attending this special event.

View the invitation from Metro Parks.

Ten School for Science and Math seniors and 19 Research Internship Program (RIP) students will present their summer research at two poster sessions on July 10, 2008.

The poster sessions will run from 9:30 to 10:45 am and 11:00 am to 12:15 pm in the north lobby of Light Hall.

We encourage everyone to stop by and witness the extraordinary work that these students — the next generation of research scientists — have produced.

See a related article in The Reporter from June 27, 2008

January, 2008 marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Scientist in the Classroom Partnership (SCP) program, which started in 2000. Originally funded through a National Science Foundation (NSF) GK-12 Graduate Teaching Fellows grant, this partnership has placed over 87 graduate and postdoctoral scientists in 90 MNPS classrooms over the past seven years.

Jeanne Tuschl, Program Coordinator, maintains a busy schedule recruiting, training, and monitoring the work of each cohort of fellows. With Ms. Tuschl's tireless work, the SCP program has been recognized as a critical part of the MNPS school system.

Pedro Garcia, Superintendent of MNPS; Board Chairwoman, Marsha Warden; and the Nashville Alliance for Public Education Chair, Pam Garrett, have all committed support for the sustainability of the SCP program in MNPS middle schools. Dr. Virginia Shepherd, Director of the Center for Science Outreach, has also been recognized by the NSF as directing one of the most successful GK-12 programs in the country.

The Center for Science Outreach is proud to sponsor this program connecting Vanderbilt University, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University, and Fisk University scientists to MNPS classrooms.

The CSO partner Center for Teaching offers a "teaching certificate" program designed to help graduate, professional students, and postdocs develop and refine their teaching skills. We invite you to attend their information session on October 3, 2007 as well as a variety of relevant workshops and discussions held throughout the semester.

Keep an eye on our website for teaching opportunities in the Scientist-in-the-Classroom Partnership (SCP) Program and School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt .

The Learning Sciences Institute (LSI) is a Vanderbilt University-wide center dedicated to stimulating and supporting interdisciplinary research and development in the learning sciences. Through that work, the LSI seeks to improve education while developing a new generation of tomorrow's leaders.

With over $80 million in external support, the LSI's 100+ investigators are currently exploring a wide variety of topics such as conceptual and cultural change, the achievement gap, education leadership assessment, embodied mathematical cognition, teacher professional development, the role of culture in learning, and more.

The summer 2007 edition of the LSI's newsletter, "Eye on the LSI," featured an article introducing the School for Science and Math to the LSI investigators and to other community members. Read the article online or download a PDF copy of the whole newsletter.

The Vanderbilt AIDS Outreach ("AIDSO") team presented their first interactive videoconference to high schools in Massachusetts and Louisiana through the Center for Science Outreach's Virtual Scientist Program this afternoon. Prior to the videoconference, students were asked to fill in a "pre-test" to find out their basic understanding of HIV/AIDS-related topics and during the videoconference they discussed the answers and their questions with AIDSO team members. Following the videoconference, students and teachers were asked to complete an evaluation, describing their experience and suggesting what impact the program may have had on them. As an ongoing resource, students and teachers have the option to confidentially ask additional questions of the AIDSO team by emailing vandyAIDSO@gmail.com. With the help of HIV-positive people from Nashville Cares — a non-profit agency in Middle Tennessee that "promotes and participates in a comprehensive and compassionate response to HIV and AIDS through education, advocacy, and supportive services" — the AIDSO team has just completed a video, "Living with HIV," that is now available for viewing online (view in Windows Media | QuickTime [coming soon]). Also, listen to Brenna Simon's interview on a recent Snacks4theBrain! podcast.

The one-room schoolhouse is alive again in Arkansas thanks to the Aspirnauts Initiative that was officially launched on April 10, 2007. Students at Sheridan Schools received Apple iPods and Apple MacBooks to use during their up to three hour commute to and from school each day. Their school bus is equipped with wireless internet access, allowing them to email teachers at their school and/or scientists at Vanderbilt University or other schools their class may partner with. See a video from Little Rock's KTHV 11 story on the program (click here to view in Windows Media Player).

The Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS) Outreach Team is offering high school teachers the opportunity to have scientists visit their classroom with a presentation, demonstrations, and a Q&A session for their students. Teachers interested in this opportunity should see the VUIIS Scientific Outreach webpage and contact Dr. Thomas Yankeelov for additional information.