News - Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
MULTI Student Research Showcase Inspires Focal Students
Over 100 teachers, students, families, and volunteers braved 17cm of fresh snow on February 8 to converge in Downtown Denver for the MULTI Student Research Showcase. The Metropolitan State University of Denver GLOBE Partnership was thrilled to bring the excitement of student learning and research back to the Auraria Campus, site of the 2017 Southwest Region GLOBE SRS. The event featured GLOBE student presentations from local elementary and middle schools and remote presentations from high school students at Navajo Preparatory School in NW New Mexico.
The second hour of the event showcased undergraduate research posters and hands-on science activities. One benefit of this segment was to inspire our “focal students”, those who have not seen themselves in a STEM career pipeline, by interactions to near-peers from similar backgrounds. Presenters were recruited from the MSU Denver Chapter of SACNAS, and the Colorado-Wyoming Alliance for Minority Participation.
In addition to these MSU students, Community College of Denver (CCD) students and recent graduates presented research posters stemming from a field research course in the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge. Under the supervision of CCD Professor Dawn Cummings, several of these students have assisted GLOBE teachers and their students. Their school visits as mentors for student research projects have inspired students and given them the confidence that they are doing real science.
The final hour of the event was a STEM EXPO with activities including virtual reality, electricity-generating bicycles, fun with macroinvertebrates with Denver Water, and Curls on the Block (a STEAM enrichment program for girls of all colors and curls).
The MULTI STEM project is funded by NSF grant # 1615193. The Community College of Denver is a partner on the grant.
type: globe-news
News origin: United States of America