July 28, 2008

Discovery Park offers Afternoon for Educators program for middle, high school teachers

Chris Foster
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Led by Chris Foster, who directs Discovery Park's P-12 efforts in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, Afternoon for Educators is designed to become an annual event for teachers preparing for the upcoming school year. More than a dozen local and area teachers and administrators in the STEM disciplines are expected to participate in this week's event.

"Purdue is an international leader in developing some of the brightest engineers and scientists in the world," Foster said. "Through programs like Discovery Park's Afternoon for Educators, we hope to build on that foundation by discovering innovative ways to encourage learning in these critical areas and to share these ideas with our middle and high school teachers."

Afternoon for Educators includes an overview of Discovery Park's role in advancing Purdue's interdisciplinary research efforts and tours of the park's four primary facilities -- the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Bindley Bioscience Center, Birck Nanotechnology Center and the Gerald D. and Edna E. Mann Hall.

The tour offers a stop at "Nanotechnology: The Science of Making Things Smaller," an exhibit that includes a scanning probe microscope made of LEGOs. Teachers will watch a presentation on the sophisticated gowning process required by researchers using the 25,000-square-foot Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory in Birck.

A demonstration also is planned on the "Generation Nano" interactive Web site, operated by the Network for Computational Nanotechnology.

"Purdue and its state-of-the-art research facilities in Discovery Park provide the ideal laboratory for developing ideas and showcasing learning techniques that will help captivate our P-12 students in the STEM disciplines," Foster said.

A recent report by the National Assessment Governing Board indicated that more than 50 percent of U.S. students do not take any science classes in the 12th grade. Those who do take a science class rank below the average of their international counterparts, according to the Third International Math and Science Study.

Separate studies indicate the number of engineers graduating from U.S. institutions has slipped 20 percent in recent years to fewer than 60,000 a year. By comparison, the number of engineers graduating annually in China has risen 161 percent to more than 200,000. Japan and India each are graduating more than 100,000 engineers a year. If that trend persists, the National Science Foundation predicts that 90 percent of the world's scientists and engineers will live in Asia by 2010.

As a result, the Association of American Universities, in its report "National Defense Education and Innovation Initiative: Meeting America's Economic and Security Challenges in the 21st Century," calls on leaders in education, industry and government to increase the number of U.S. scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians graduating from U.S. universities.

Foster develops and facilitates K-12 opportunities that are linked to the 11 primary Discovery Park centers and its many special research projects. He also works closely with the park's Discovery Learning Center, which leads several campus programs and collaborates with other universities to research innovative learning techniques in technical areas such as science and engineering.

Writer:  Phillip Fiorini, (765) 496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Sources: Chris Foster, (765) 494-2981, cjfoster@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Journalists interested in covering the Afternoon for Educators workshop or want details about the program's schedule can contact Phillip Fiorini, Purdue News Service, at (765) 496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu .

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