|
|
Science program to benefit
schools; equipment provided for the students
By Ian Clift
Summer Reporter
Sites around Indiana will be set up to provide
secondary schools with scientific equipment, in a cost effective manner,
in a program similar to a model already in place at Purdue.
The scientific equipment necessary to carry out
advanced placement and technical programs is currently not available
in most Indiana schools. As a result, the Indiana Scientific Instrument
Project alliance, consisting of members from the state Department of
Education, school corporations and higher education institutions, proposed
the ISI Project. It was accepted as part of the state budget for the
Department of Education on April 30.
The project, which would bring microchip based
technology into science laboratories around the state, was first suggested
by members of the Science Outreach program at Purdue six years ago.
"We developed the model here in Science Outreach
and it worked so well that we suggested it to the Indiana Department
of Education," said Dennis Sorge, director of academic services for
the School of Science.
The objective of the program was to educate secondary
science teachers in the use of modern instrument technologies and to
deliver sets of equipment, to be used by students in hands-on experiments,
around the state throughout the school year.
Two and a half million dollars was appropriated
for the program which should be used to expand the program to around
eight sites around the state said Sorge, the director and one of six
coordinators for the outreach program at Purdue. "It will be up to the
state to decide if they're going to give us money but our hope is that
they will," he said.
The Program was based on the Science Outreach Chemobile
program. "Chemobile is a program that provides staff development to
teachers and then it provides equipment on a loan basis," said Sorge.
The program was previously funded by the National Science Foundation,
and the hope is that the funding will now come from the state through
the new appropriation.
Julia Hains, outreach coordinator for the department
of chemistry, said that the Purdue program currently consists of 94
teachers, who are involved in a 5-week summer staff development program.
The Chemobile is used to supply instrumentation during the school year
to 50 schools in a 50 mile region in order to educated students about
their use and function.
The state program will allow school corporations
access to $250,000 worth of equipment, including spectrophotometers,
pH probes, gas chromatographs, and gel electrophoresis apparatuses,
that they would otherwise be unable to afford.
Hains said that the statewide program would have
a number of effects. "It will bring science instruction to a modern
level, where many schools have labs built in the fifties," she said.
It would also show students real life applications of science, with
experiments involving forensics and medicine, and improve science literacy
overall.
Sorge said, "It's a really exciting project, that's
why we worked so hard to get it statewide. I think it will have a dramatic
effect on science education."
|
Budget
plan to increase student fees next school year
Education
department head to serve as new interim dean
Young
GOP group creates chapter in Tippecanoe
Science
program to benefit schools; equipment provided for the students
Contractors
to finish restoring Purdue University water tower
Professor's
research technique renders better information of geological record
Engineers
use device to enhance optical communications
Researcher
develops way to detect low fuel levels
CAMPUS DESK PHONE:
(765)
743-1111 ext. 253
Campus editor:
Laura Pelner
Assistant campus
editors: Kurt Esposito,
Dave Stephens
To
send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org
|
