K-12 Science Outreach office creating lots of interactive content for students across the state

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s College of Science K-12 Science Outreach office regularly serves thousands of students in classrooms across the state. With the COVID-19 crisis, the outreach team has ramped up delivery of its online materials to make even more topics available for teachers during e-learning.

 “Because of Purdue’s land-grant mission, the College of Science is committed to helping K-12 teachers and students,” says Bill Bayley, director of K-12 Science Outreach. “The K-12 outreach coordinators recognized, as Indiana schools went to e-learning, the need to step up and modify the way we help teachers in any way we could with tools to continue teaching science remotely.”

Additionally, online materials have been added to the Science Express website on electrophoresis, column chromatography, infrared cameras, mass spectrometers and notebook circuits. These video demonstrations on lab techniques are being produced at the request of current Science Express participants. Resources for younger students are available too, including elementary tabletop weather experiments to show how it rains and make a cloud in a bottle. Examples of videos include infrared camera demonstrations and a tour of science-themed information displays at Purdue.  

An infrared camera demonstration is one of the many videos and resources that K-12 Indiana teachers have access to thanks to the Purdue College of Science K-12 Science Outreach office updating online materials on the Science Express website. (Purdue University illustration)

The Superheroes of Science” podcast is still being produced and is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and YouTube. Each podcast features an interview with a science expert, many of whom are Purdue researchers or graduates, about various topics including animal communication, photosynthesis, asteroid impacts and meteorology. Each podcast has an associated worksheet on the e-learning website for students to complete after listening.

Virtual tours featuring campus displays and research labs are also available. These showcase such locations as the Purdue Stable Isotope facility, a solar system display and a chemistry lab. These create an interactive platform to see how science is integrated on campus.

The Outreach team also maintains an active Twitter account; and Facebook accounts at Science Express, Purdue University Earth, Atmospheric, and Planterary Sciences Outreach and Purdue University K-12 Chemistry Outreach. These accounts share resources for teachers to use during this e-learning time. 

The Science Outreach Office website can be found here.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.

Writer: Kelsey Schnieders Lefever, kschnied@purdue.edu

Media contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-412-0864, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Bill Bayley, K-12 outreach coordinator, College of Science, wbayley@purdue.edu