HESTEC: A Decade of Innovation: Pushing Frontiers & Inspiring Future Leaders - Middle School Challenge

The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg TX

Investigators

Abstract

For the past decade, the University of Texas--Pan American has sponsored the Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology (HESTEC) Week to promote STEM careers to students in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, a predominantly Hispanic area of the United States and to reach out to the community at large. With National Science Foundation support, HESTEC will partner with two NSF-funded Science and Technology Centers to provide professional development for teachers (Educator Day), hands-on science activities for middle school students (Middle School Challenge), and science shows and experiment stations for the entire community (Community Day). NSF support will permit students and staff from the Colorado State University Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) to bring its Little Shop of Physics to HESTEC, where the hand-on science activities will reach some 30-70 educators, up to 4000 middle school students, and thousands of community visitors. UT-PA undergraduates will work directly with CMMAP staff to operate the demonstrations and to engage the HESTEC participants. In addition, representatives from the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP) at Oregon State University will provide a professional development workshop for middle and high school teachers as part of the HESTEC Educators Day. The Little Shop of Physics was awarded the Robert A. Millikan Medal by the American Associate of Physics Teachers in 2001. The program has reached 250,000 students in schools throughout the Colorado region and will now have a prominent place at HESTEC.