Ascent Outreach
Created on: Tuesday 7 April 2009
The BYU ASCENT project is collaborating with
Timpanogos Elementary School's 6th grade classes. The purpose of this outreach is to increase the children's curiosity and desire to explore science and nature.
In line with the Intended Learning Outcomes for 6th grade, it is also our goal to help the 6th grade students:
1. Use Science Process and Thinking Skills
2. Manifest Scientific Attitudes and Interests
3. Understand Correct Science Concepts and Principles
4. Communicate Effectively Using Science Language and Reasoning
5. Demonstrate Awareness of Social and Historical Aspects of Science
6. Understand the Nature of Science
The ASCENT project has used several resources provided by BYU and the ASCENT grant. With the aid of these resources, several demonstrations were given to the 6th grade classes at Timpanogos Elementary that meet several of the science standards set for 6th grade students. To better show the 6th grade standards, and to further motivate the students in their last year in elementary school, field trips were organized for the students to come to Brigham Young University. The university's planetarium and some of the labs housed on campus were used for these field trips.
Several faculty from the university agreed to participate in this outreach and provided demonstrations that were quite engaging to the 6th grade students. These demonstrations were also designed to have a "hands-on" portion to them where the students themselves are in charge of forming their own questions, and design a method to answer those questions. With the proper guidance, the students are also able to understand that science is a way that they themselves may use to gain answers and knowledge to the questions they have using a variety of methods and procedures. Being this the 2nd year these students were exposed to the ASCENT project outreach they came with a certain level of expectation that was not disappointed.
For the 6th grade classes some of the demos presented included:
1. Introduction to Waves
2. Heat, light, sound
3. The solar system and constellations
With these demos three different 6th grade standards were covered. These outreach experiences have been quite a pleasant experience for the ASCENT group members, the 6th grade teachers, and especially for the students themselves.
BYU ASCENT project Subfolders:
Utah's 6th Grade Science Standards
Sample lesson plan
Heat light and sound activity plan
Brigham Young University has a Physics Education Program and an Engineering Education Program whose main goal is to prepare future teachers in these fields to work at the middle to high school levels. In order to continue tracking the progress of these 6th students that are on their way to middle school, the ASCENT project has started collaborating with the Physics Education and the Engineering Education courses. The goal is to establish a chain to encourage these students and give them the opportunity to choose and succeed in science and engineering related fields.