Media Advisory: Dozens of Buffalo Teachers to Showcase Summer Research Projects

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Dozens of Buffalo STEM teachers and scientists will gather at Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute on Tuesday, Sept. 18, to celebrate the conclusion of a summer program that paired the teachers and scientists together on cutting-edge research projects.

The summer work was part of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Partnership (ISEP), a larger, year-round program that aims to increase hands-on learning in science classes district-wide.

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers who participated in the ISEP summer research will use what they learned from that experience to design experiments and other hands-on activities for their students throughout the school year.

The goal is to improve science learning by cultivating classrooms where students are not passive observers, but curious young scientists engaged in solving interdisciplinary problems.

Tuesday's event will take place from 4-6 p.m. in the second-floor lobby of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI), 700 Ellicott St., Buffalo.

About 40 teachers from Buffalo Public Schools will be onsite sharing posters describing the work they completed over the summer with scientists from Buffalo State College, HWI, Praxair, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University at Buffalo. The teachers' projects ranged from building nanoparticles called quantum dots to analyzing water samples from local streams.

Another dozen or so teachers will be presenting on how they will implement what they learned from a summer teacher preparation course at Buffalo State College that emphasized hands-on instruction and student scientific discourse.

The new superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools district, Pamela C. Brown, EdD, will be in attendance, along with other invited guests.

ISEP is a teacher professional development program that works with 12 Buffalo middle and high schools. It reaches about 60 Buffalo STEM teachers each year. For more information on ISEP, visit http://www.buffalo.edu/news/13519.

UB's John and Frances Larkin Professor of Chemistry Joseph Gardella is the grant director of the program, which is funded primarily by a $9.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

EVENT INFORMATION:

What: Poster session and celebration of summer research projects that Buffalo teachers conducted through the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Partnership, a teacher professional development program that aims to increase hands-on learning in science classes district-wide.

When: Tuesday, Sept. 18, from 4-6 p.m.

Where: Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute at 700 Ellicott St., Buffalo.

Press arrangements: Contact Charlotte Hsu in UB's Office of University Communications at 716-645-4655 or chsu22@buffalo.edu, or 510-388-1831 onsite.