USC's Young Scientists Program translates STEM research into community outreach curriculum.
Abstract
The Young Scientists Program (YSP) is an inquiry-based, hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) educational outreach program operated by the USC Joint Educational Project. The program aims to address a critical lack of science education in JEP partner schools by recruiting STEAM undergraduate and graduate students to serve as Teaching Assistants (TAs) who bring scientific laboratory experiences directly to students and their teachers.
The YSP science curriculum functions as an effective supplement of current science instruction in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools. It incorporates Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), as well as LAUSD and statewide grade-level science learning standards, with the ultimate goal of strengthening science literacy and promoting interest in scientific careers. YSP's primary objectives are to present accessible and engaging science lessons to the neighborhood children around the university, assist in alleviating the fear and stress that is often associated with studying science, and help students apply what they learn in the classroom to the real world and to their own lives. YSP has a network of scientists, formal, and informal educators, media specialists, and communication experts that strengthens communication skills and broadens impacts of our educational outreach program. We work with scientists in many regards and translates their curriculum into hands-on and inquiry based experiences. One of the networks we work with is PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) and through travel experiences to the polar regions with researchers, YSP has created a polar science curriculum for its community program. We also conveyed the science on social media. This session is a panel about the strategies used to translate the science and communicate it with a local, national and international audiences.- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMED11A..05K
- Keywords:
-
- 0799 General or miscellaneous;
- CRYOSPHERE;
- 0815 Informal education;
- EDUCATION;
- 0840 Evaluation and assessment;
- EDUCATION;
- 0845 Instructional tools;
- EDUCATION