While most Yale students leave for spring recess in March, there will still be many young minds eager to learn on campus as the University plays host to hundreds of New Haven area schoolchildren through a variety of programs.
Experiments and scientific presentations created by city schoolchildren will be the main course at University Commons when the New Haven Science Fair is held there on Tuesday, March 8.
The annual event is sponsored through a partnership between Yale, the New Haven Public Schools, the Olin Corporation and the Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program.
Now integrated into the public schools' curriculum, the Science Fair Program is designed to improve student achievement in science and mathematics through hands-on education. It also aims to stimulate and guide independent research, and encourage female and minority students to enter science-oriented careers.
The program started in 1993 with seven participating schools and has expanded to 47 schools, with a total of 8,500 students. This year, 51 projects by New Haven students in all grades have been accepted for the fair -- the highest number of all such similar programs throughout the state.
In addition to hosting the fair, the University provides mentors and judges for the program, including Yale College undergraduates and graduate students, as well as faculty from the Schools of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Medicine, and the Departments of Biology and Physics.
The fair includes two sessions: one at 3-6 p.m., which is open only to participants and their families; and one at 7-9 p.m., which is open to the public.
In celebration of "Music In Our Schools Month," the New Haven Public Schools' Music Department will present "Bridging the Gap Through Music" on Thursday, March 10, at 8 p.m. at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St.
The concert will feature performances by the teaching faculty from the city schools, along with musicians from the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Yale School of Music and the Neighborhood Music School.
Reginald Mayo, superintendent of schools in New Haven, notes that many music teachers teaching in the New Haven Public Schools are also accomplished musicians. "Coupled with the talents of professional musicians in our community, this promises to be an outstanding evening of classical and jazz music," says Mayo. "We invite everyone to come and enjoy this fantastic concert."
Admission to the concert is free.
New Haven high school students will learn about the many career opportunities available in technology and engineering, while networking with other students nationwide via state-of-the-art technology, through a program sponsored by The Hispanic Association of Communications Employees of SBC Communications Inc. (HACEMOS) on Thursday, March 10.
Yale will host the annual HACEMOS High Tech Day, which this year will explore the theme "Technology: Creating a New Universe." One aim of the program is to raise students' awareness about today's increasingly technology-driven environment.
Using advanced SBC videoconferencing technology, HACEMOS will simultaneously link high school students from 23 locations in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin for the event. Students at all locations will introduce their schools to the nationwide participants in the videoconference. Since the event was launched nationally in 1999, more than 3,000 students have participated in the program.
Students will also have the opportunity to tour the Yale campus and to attend computer and news anchor workshops.
A competition in which students will demonstrate, not their athletic prowess, but their understanding of books will be held at Yale on Wednesday, March 16.
Pupils in grades 4 through 12 in the New Haven Public Schools have collectively read thousands of books this year in preparation for the annual Book Bowl, which tests students' knowledge of 10 selected books.
Grouped in teams of five, students practice and prepare to battle their rivals from classes at the same grade level. Each student strives to become an expert on at least two books from the 10 selected for the contest. Parents and teachers coach the competitors. The emphasis is not just on reading a certain number of books, but on the importance of students understanding what they have read.
"The Book Bowl makes a sport of reading!" says Regina Warner, supervisor of library media services for New Haven Public Schools. "It is fun and challenging. It is exciting and educational."
Science Saturdays, a series of fun science programs for children, will be held for five consecutive Saturdays, starting March 26.
Hosted by Ainissa G. Ramirez, assistant professor of engineering at Yale, the series will showcase dynamic scientists of various backgrounds, ages and disciplines. The series is designed to shatter stereotypes about who scientists are and what scientists do.
Yale scientists will address topics ranging from psychology to astromony to tissue engineering and more. The hour-long programs are designed for students in the 7th grade and older, and are free and open to the public. They will be held at 10:30 a.m. in Davies Auditorium, 15 Prospect St.
An in-depth story about the series will appear in the March 18 issue of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar. A list of speakers is available online at www.eng.yale.edu/science.
T H I S
New Haven Science Fair
"Bridging the Gap Through Music"
HACEMOS High Tech Day
Book Bowl
Science Saturdays
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