Maine EPSCoR Upcoming Events

 

Events for High School Students

Maine EPSCoR High School Internship Program at the University of Maine in Orono, June-August 2014

The Maine EPSCoR High School Research Internship Program is an exciting paid opportunity for high school students to participate in cutting-edge research on a college campus. Students will work with UMaine faculty, students and others in a variety of fields while learning about sustainable science and water quality issues. Interns
must be at least 16 years old and have daily transportation to the UMaine campus. Contact Maine EPSCoR Outreach and Program Manager, Laurie Bragg, with any questions at (207)-581-2295 or laurie.bragg@maine.edu.
Applications will be available soon at www.umaine.edu/epscor.

Wabanaki Youth Science (WaYS): wskitkamikww "earth" camp at the Schoodic Education & Research Center (SERC), Acadia National Park, July 7-11, 2014

This overnight camp provides high school students an opportunity to spend a week learning about the intersection of traditional cultural philosophies and the environmental science that provides a foundation to care for the land and water that is such an integral part of Wabanaki heritage. Contact camp project administrator, tish carr, with any questions at (207)-485-0219 or tish.carr@maine.edu. Applications will be available soon at www.umaine.edu/
epscor.

Events for Faculty and Professional Educators

SENCER-Related Events

SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) is an organization that applies the science of learning to the learning of science, all to expand civic capacity. SENCER courses and programs connect science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content to critical local, national, and global challenges. SENCER works to improve science education by focusing on real world problems and, by so doing, extends the impact of this learning across the curriculum to the broader community and society. Using materials, assessment instruments, and research developed in the SENCER project, faculty learn to design curricular projects that connect science learning to real world challenges.

SENCER Summer Institute at University of Carolina at Asheville, July 31-August 4, 2014

Maine EPSCoR will be providing travel scholarships for one or more "teams" (4+ people) to this exciting opportunity, which will allow faculty to learn how to utilize the SENCER approach in curriculum development.
Contact Maine EPSCoR Outreach and Program Manager, Laurie Bragg, with any questions or for a travel scholarship application at (207)-581-2295 or laurie.bragg@maine.edu.

SENCER Field Trip: "Examining the interactive role of tidal height and predation on growth and survival of juvenile soft-shell clams, Mya arenaria, with Woolwich Central School seventh-graders"

May 23, 2014 (times to be determined)

Join students, faculty, and professional educators for a demonstration of how to conduct a hands-on, field-based experience engaging college students to work with middle students to participate in real world research. In addition, participants will learn about the logic and logistics involved in setting up field experiments. This will be a collaborative learning experience for all participants so please come prepared to share and ask questions about best practices. Contact Maine EPSCoR Outreach and Program Manager, Laurie Bragg, with any questions or for a travel scholarship application at (207)-581-2295 or laurie.bragg@maine.edu.

Blending STEM, Arts and Music in the High School Classroom

The National movement to incorporate STEM into public education is doing well in Maine. Noble High School teachers David Parker (physics/robotics/engineering) and Chad McCormack (math) are combining a STEM project with the Arts and Music to create a rich learning environment that students thrive in. 

Now in its second year, students are able to take a one-semester course for science credit in which they invest 45 class hours to assemble fully operational electric guitars. Begun as an after school elective, the program has become a focal point of interest at Noble, which has a state-of-the-art wood working facility ideal for this effort.

This is the first time that a class has been offered for students to build their own musical instrument at a Maine high school. But this is only the first step. Noble will host a regional NSF sponsored guitar building workshop during the summer of 2015 with the objective of training more educators in this program, establishing the curriculum in more public schools, and offering this opportunity to more Maine students.

Funded by a Perloff Family Foundation STEM4ME grant, students use math and physics to calculate and understand fret placement and harmonics, and technology in adjusting and tuning their guitars. The painting technique is supported by a chemistry curriculum. The student’s sense of ownership and pride in workmanship make this learning experience unique. 

For additional information please contact:

David Parker, Noble High School, North Berwick, Maine: david.parker@msad60.org

David Perloff, Director, Perloff Family Foundation: daveperloff@gmail.com

2014 STEM Ecology Forum

http://www.ecologyforum.org

The 2014 STEM Ecology Forum will be held at the University of Southern Maine on Saturday May 3, 2014. The Forum is an opportunity for Maine elementary, middle and high school teachers and students to showcase, through presentations and poster sessions, their innovative environmental projects.  The Forum is also an opportunity for dialogue between educators, students and experts in the STEM field.

Examples of subjects areas for presentations and poster sessions include:

• Passively heated greenhouses as science labs and sources of winter crops
• Novel technical approaches to investigating and quantifying invasive aquatic species, especially the use of student built ROVs
  
• Fish and wildlife ecology programs involving schools and their community
• Food production using aquaponics, aquaculture and hydroponics
• Identifying and mitigating the impact of invasive species on lake and ocean native populations
  
• Detecting and eliminating sources of food chain contamination
• Programs for reducing food waste and diverting food loss in schools and communities
• Creating new markets for Maine’s agricultural and seafood products

Who Should Attend

• Educators and students actively engaged in environmental projects
• Scientists, engineers and members of the business community committed to advancing environmental education and policy making

Sponsors

• USM's Department of Environmental Science and the College of Science, Technology and Health.
• The Perloff Family Foundation
• The Maine Space Grant Consortium
  
• The Maine Community Foundation

For more information on attending the Forum please contact

• Cecile Aitchison, Vice President University Advancement, caitchison@usm.maine.edu
  
• David Perloff, Forum Co-Chair, Perloff Family Foundation: daveperloff@gmail.com