science in the city program description

8/8/2019 Science in the City Program Description

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John Pang

Brian Goldner

Brett Wanamaker

Program Description

Science in the City is a novel program aimed at inspiring inner city children to question

and explore scientific phenomena. Throughout the year, three team members will consult

with faculty and administrators at Tench Tilghman Elementary to develop sciencedemonstrations, often health-related, for school children. The demonstrations will be held

after school. While the sessions can conceivably be held for children of all ages,

structured scientific curriculum at Tilghman does not begin until the fourth grade.

Consequently, fourth or fifth grade students would be most appropriate to target.

Once specific demonstrations have been designed, they will be performed for students in

an informal observatory environment. Initially the students will only be expected to

watch, comment, and ask questions if they wish. Eventually, we anticipate students to become increasingly interested in the weekly demonstrations. At this point, they will be

encouraged to help the Schweitzer scholars conduct the experiments if they candemonstrate adequate responsibility and maturity. If so, they may eventually be allowed

to perform the experiments under supervision, or serve as mentors to students who are

new to the program. In this way, we envision the allure of science demonstrations to not

only inspire students, but also to be an incentive for behavior improvement. Students willnot be expected to complete formal work of any kind; Science in the City is only intended

to elicit interest and excitement in the sciences.

The three Schweitzer fellows will work together with faculty and students to contribute to

the program’s success. However, certain responsibilities will be delegated to each of thefellows. One fellow will serve as a liaison between Science in the City and faculty. As previously mentioned, Tilghman science faculty may have suggestions about specific

demonstrations that complement school curriculum. In addition, some experiments will

promote health and wellness to students. A second fellow will be responsible for planningeach demonstration. His responsibilities include obtaining reagents and supplies and

planning the logistic execution of the experiment in the science classroom. A third fellow

will be responsible for monitoring the experiment, ensuring that students are well-

behaved, and for a conducting a brief lesson on the science behind the experiment. Itshould be noted that while each fellow will have his own responsibilities, we will often

be working together to achieve our program goals.

Students Stopping Violence is another volunteer group that will be serving at Tench

Tilghman, and we anticipate working alongside them in an effort to improve the student

community.

Time Frame for Project

March/April: Meet with teachers, administrators, and students to determine the most



effective way to get students to buy-in to the program. Basic logistics will be arranged for

the year’s upcoming events including summer and regular school-year activities.

Contacts will also be established with the Johns Hopkins University School of Educationfaculty to optimize after-school science activities.

April-June: Make arrangements in preparation for in-class demonstrations to begin with

students in the school’s summer program. Successful techniques and approaches will be

developed and refined.

June-August: After-class science demonstrations begin. Schweitzer fellows will give

demonstrations to students in the Tilghman summer program to begin establishing

rapport with students and assess strategies for the regular academic year. During thistime, the target student population may be adjusted depending on the progress of our

initiative. We will also explore the possibility of field trips to institutions of higher

learning if scientifically-applicable experiences can be arranged.

August-March: Weekly demonstrations of scientific phenomena in the Tilghman

Elementary-Middle science laboratory. Over the course of the year, students who showsignificant interest and maturity will be encouraged to assist in demonstrations,

eventually becoming leaders among their peers.

March: Our program will culminate in a symposium in which students can design,implement, and present their own science projects with other students, teachers, mentors,

and interested members of the community. Schweitzer fellows will be available as

mentors to these students as they design and complete their projects.

Local Community Need

The Maryland School Assessment (MSA) is a standardized exam given in math and

reading to grades 3-8, and in science to grades 5-8. Currently, inner city schools place a

strong emphasis on exam performance, tailoring curricula to maximize students’ testingabilities and their demonstration of state-mandated math and reading skills. While we

understand that standardized testing is an integral component of assessing school

progress and scholastic aptitude, and is an important skill for students to acquire, we

strongly believe that the students should not lose sight of the exciting phenomena of therealm of science. As we reflect back upon the moments that inspired us to pursue science-

based careers now, we remember visually exciting observations that pushed the

boundaries of our imagination and left us in wonder.

Our program aims to inspire students to similarly question and explore the phenomena

we demonstrate for them in our experiments; actions that a test-based curriculum may notaccomplish alone. In the best case scenario, students who become interested in our

weekly demonstrations may gain the motivation to improve their performance in class as

well.



Moreover, inner city school children require a productive outlet for their spare time. Our

program will serve to engage students in informal, yet fun, learning and encourage them

to demonstrate civil behavior and improved social skills as described above.

Sustainability

We expect that our project will continue long after the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship

period expires and even after we graduate from medical school and begin practicingmedicine. We hope to use our close ties with medical and graduate students to recruit

capable and enthusiastic science mentors.

In August the new class of medical students will begin classes and it is our hope toinvolve a select few in our program at that time. By March of 2011, when we begin

clinical rotations, we will have already selected our successors and ensured that they are

fully trained and prepared to continue our project. To facilitate this smooth transition we

will be passing along written directions for our lesson plans, including protocol for all of our laboratory demonstrations. We will also ensure that they have access to the chemical

reagents and equipment we have accumulated, as well as connect them to future sourcesof materials.

In addition, we believe that student buy-in is an important aspect of our project, and will

be selecting responsible students along the way to work with us. It is our hope that these peer educators will eventually be able to carry out demonstrations on their own, albeit

supervised, and perhaps serve as mentors to fellow students.

In summary, we feel that continuity is one of the most important aspects of any

community service project and have already begun planning for Science in the City to be

a sustainable and beneficial initiative for the community.

science in the city program description

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