Chemistry Under the Big Top

Credit: ACES. “Our main goal is to get elementary students excited to learn about STEM, and for them to see how beautiful and relevant science can be to communities in eastern Montana,” says Amanda Obery, Ph.D., an assistant professor in elementary education at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. Dr. Obery co-leads the Authentic Community Engagement in Science (ACES) project with Matt Queen, Ph.D., an assistant professor in biological and physical sciences at Montana State University Billings (MSUB). A Custom STEM Curriculum with a Local Emphasis ACES connects teachers and biomedical professionals within Montana communities, including those that are predominantly Native American, to create a culturally relevant STEM curriculum for local students in grade 5. For Dr. Obery, this collaborative work is the most fun part of the project: “We have to figure out what’s important to each community and how we can help students see themselves involved in science. Are we putting role models who look like them in the limelight? Are we successfully showing them how science impacts them and how biomedicine is actively working in their community to allow it to grow? We rely on community engagement sessions to answer these questions and to develop the best possible curriculum for these students.” Every year, the project partners with different rural school districts in eastern Montana—with six planned over the course of 5 years, reaching approxi...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Being a Scientist STEM Education Profiles SEPA Training Source Type: blogs