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ScienceQuest, an after-school program with a difference,
is the product of a three-year grant from the National Science
Foundation, in partnership with Education Development Center,
and ThinkQuest. ScienceQuest brings together informal science
and technology to local community technology centers (CTCs)
across the country. The pilot- spring 2001 modeled this project
for future years. During the pilot, 12 teams ran in various
neighborhoods in Boston. During 2001-2002 year ScienceQuest
will expand, bringing ScienceQuest to over 50 locations.
Middle-school students form small teams and work in their
local CTCs to investigate an area of science that excites
them; the product of this effort are websites that display
what valuable discoveries the students have made. The students
use many resources freely available within the Boston area
to explore science topics; places such as the New England
Aquarium, the Franklin Park Zoo, local bio-tech companies,
or even the empty parking lot next door are all subject to
the unbridled curiosity of the students. After a period of
exploration, the teams research, asking scientists questions
via email searching via the web, or revisiting the zoo or
the park to get more information about the question. In order
to present their findings to the world, the students build
websites, that are housed on ThinkQuest.org, to educate, explain
and demonstrate what they have learnt.
Teams are based in Roxbury, Chinatown, Roslindale, Allston,
and in Framingham. The coaches of the teams are parents, college
students, retired engineers and future teachers, who are not
experts but who receive training and support, through visits
from informal science experts, websites and listservs among
other resources, in guiding the teams as they discover and
model how real researchers work. The teams have ready access
to the internet, digital cameras and other tools for discovery.
These tools also allows students who have disabilities to
participate in this exploration.
For further information, please take a look at the
ScienceQuest website.
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