CenMaSTER

Outreach Programs

S.A.M.E.
The Science and Math Experience is a MAST Academy two week summer ’09 initiative for 35-40 area high school juniors and seniors. The students will experience lab activities, field trips, and speakers on such topics as Desert Survival, Geology, Ecology, Space and Aviation, and Forensics.
Lab activities will include learning topography, map reading, earthquake and volcano formation, crime scene investigation, and learning about endangered species and habitats.
A crime lab photographer is one of the featured speakers. Field trips are scheduled for the Franklin Mountain State Park and the Alamogordo Space Museum.

FEMAS
Future Educators of Math and Science is an undergraduate student organization of future secondary math and science teachers.  Its purpose is to provide its members with experiences and techniques to further enhance their skills in the field of education. They will use these experiences and techniques to provide helpful services through volunteer involvement in the community of education. 
In spring 2009, FEMaS received a $1000 mini-grant from Texas Girls Collaborative for Girls Count, an outreach program designed to motivate elementary aged girls to consider traditional and non-traditional occupations or careers in the fields of math and science.  In collaboration with teachers and administrators at Ituarte Elementary School in Socorro Independent School District, FEMaS members and Ituarte teachers used innovative, inquiry based materials to teach math and science to girls in grades three to five in regularly scheduled meetings and field trips.

Jumpstart

Jumpstart is a free summer program, designed by MaST Academy college students, to help eighth graders who are about to enter high school in four ways:

• Orient new 9th graders to their new high school;
• Get a jumpstart on learning 9th grade math and science TEKS;
• Make real world connections to math and science;
• Learn about college pathways and careers in math and science.

GK-12

The National Science Foundation Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education grant (Kate Miller, principal investigator; Eric Hagedorn and Jerry Johnson, co-principal investigators) is a three-year, $1.78 million project that has created a partnership with El Paso Independent School District to enhance the professional preparation of graduate fellows in science and engineering, transform the cognitive level of learning in middle school science classrooms, and engage student interest in science and engineering careers.

The Chihuahuan Desert region is the backdrop for the GK-12 Partnership for Exploring the Environment on the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Pathways to GeoSciences

Pathways is a geosciences network for training and recruitment of future earth scientists in El Paso, Texas.

The National Science Foundation has provided funding to the UTEP Department of Geological Sciences to 1) increase the number of Hispanic American students who attain bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the geosciences and then enter geoscience careers, and to 2) increase the awareness within the El Paso community of the geosciences as an important and relevant scientific discipline with many career opportunities.

Pathways supports four main activities:

• a summer program for high school students and teachers designed to introduce the geosciences and their connections with other sciences such as biology, chemistry, and physics;
• resources for participating teachers for implementing standards-based geoscience activities in biology, chemistry, and physics courses;
• a research experience program for undergraduate students interested in the geosciences;
• stipends for Ph.D. students in the Geosciences.

Metals

Eleven high school juniors and seniors from New Orleans, Houston, and El Paso, along with six teachers, traveled to the rim of the Grand Canyon and other southwestern sites to learn about water resources and the environment. This was a pilot project at The University of Texas at El Paso.

Chemistry Circus

The Chemistry Circus is performed by American Chemical Society Student Affiliates at the University of Texas at El Paso. Students educate the audiences with entertaining chemistry experiments. Some of the Chemistry Circus “acts” are:

• Chemistry Clock
• Purple Cabbage
• Bad Breath
• Stop Light Reaction
• Cold Packs
• How Cold is Cold?
• Combustion
  • Car Engine
  • Jet Engine
• Hydrogen Gas "Fireworks"

Physics Circus