Scientific Thinkers at Innis Elementary

IMPACT. 1: During biweekly visits, volunteers lead hands-on activities with direct engagement of elementary students and teachers. Students enjoy meeting a scientist and learning to think like a scientist. -- 2. Science Day, a school-wide teacher-inspired event, engaging students in various hands-on laboratories including: basic chemical reactions, cleaning an oil spill, liquid nitrogen demonstrations, Van der Graff generator, and sound activities. -- 3. The program provides professional growth for classroom teachers with development of hands-on strategies for teaching through direct collaboration with real scientists. There is continued pursuit of further teacher development through partnerships with established grants including the Ohio Department of Education sponsored Math Science Partnership program.OSU PARTNERS: Department of Physics; Center for Emergent Materials; College of Arts and SciencesCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: Innis Elementary SchoolPRIMARY CONTACT: Nandini Trivedi ([email protected])Ohio State University and Innis Elementary, presently under Academic Emergency, partner in a program called Scientific Thinkers to motivate the next generation of scientific thinkers from parts of our society that are marginalized. We accomplish a three-pronged benefit: confidence building in the elementary students, improvement of communication skills for graduate and undergraduate volunteer scientists, and inspiration and growth through new hands-on lesson plans for elementary school teachers