K-12 Outreach Introduction

Outreach Overview

These kits are being assembled for loan to CMDITR members to enhance their outreach activities. Each kit contains materials for several demonstrations and in some cases hands-on materials that are suitable for various grade levels. There is one kit for one general interest area.

Download complete manuals for 3 kits

As a scientist who is deeply immersed in your research it is easy to overestimate the sophistication and content background of children. Even common events that you might consider everyday students may have not encountered. One of the reason of doing hands-on demos is to give students a shared concrete experience on which to build understanding and connections.

The table below suggests the topics that might be appropriate for each audience. Note: sometimes the materials in a kit might be quite impressive to kids even when the scientific explanation is inappropriate at lower levels. We assume you will be adjusting your presentation to make it fit the audience and venue.

Outreach Kits Topic Matrix

Kit	Elementary Topics	Middle School / Public Topics	High School Topics
Basic Optics - Outreach Kit	Light goes straight, Color mixing	Lenses, optics, refraction, reflection, absorption	Polarization, Diffraction, emission spectra, dye sensitized solar cell
Photovoltaics- Outreach Kit	Solar car, Batteries	Angle /area dependence, Types of PV cells	Total efficiency, measuring VC curves, color absorption
Lasers and Telecommunication- Outreach Kit	Optical fiber, water stream demo,	Total internal reflection, Tyndal effect	Polarization, Interferometer, Index of refraction, optical networks
Nanocrystalline - Dye Solar Cell Kit			Total efficiency, measuring VC curves, color absorption, oxidation-reduction,

The Kits

Education Standards

Science classroom time is packed full and teachers have many specific educational objective that are dictated by their districts and states. One key to being welcomed to the classroom is to relate your presentation to specific content they have to cover anyway. Even if your specific science is not covered you can switch the activity format to address general process skills such as observation, hypothesing, designing an experiment and interpreting results. Careers and the connect between science, technology and society are also hooks that tie into must curricula.

To learn what is taught at various grade levels check the National Science Education Standards, AAAS Project 2061 and the links to state Science below.

National Science Education Standards - Grade level Content

AAAS 2061 Benchmarks - The Physical Setting

Education World State Standards Links

McREL Content Knowledge

National Science Teachers Association- Science Scope and Coordination