CSU's Home for

STEM Education

Drs. Christine Jones and Andrew Warnock ran an exciting CSMATE booth at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The two day event drew ~9700 K-12 students interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from around the state. The booth featured an assortment of simple experiments that can be done with the heat sensitive pencils they were handing out. (Learn more)

Local K-12 Students Triumph!

Thanks to another generous grant from the Bohemian Foundation, local students will continue to have the opportunity to be tutored by CSU students during the 2009-2010 academic year. This Fall, CSMATE will host K-5 students from Harris, Putnam and Laurel Elementaries. We are able to bring these students to our state-of-the-art learning environment on the 3rd floor of the NESB on the CSU campus by bus and also provide the kids with a healthy snack. We are currently seeking CSU volunteer Tutors. If you would like to volunteer to be a TUTOR or learn more about this program, please contact Dr. Christine Jones at 491-2115 or Mr. Rich Salas at 491-0590. Triunfo/Triumph Tutoring is a Partnership of CSMATE and El Centro on the CSU campus.

GetWET 2009

The GetWET Observatory and Science Park is gaining popularity and has seen an increase in use. This year, we added two new instruments and emphasized data analysis. Our summer PD for science teachers focused on the greater watershed and soils.

The popularity of the GetWET program is timely because there is an increasing awareness nationwide in the importance of getting kids to do authenitc science outdoors. To learn more about this program, contact Dr. Andrew Warnock (491-2845), or visit the GetWET website.

Dr. Jones engaging kids with a series of experiments involving heat sensitive pencils.

Teacher takes World Window 3-D Video Cameras to the Top of the World

Mr. Robert Faris from Riffenburgh Elementary School was part of a scientific expedition to Thule, Greenland, 800 miles south of the North Pole. Dr. Andrew Warnock outfitted him with a 3-D video camera system with steadicam stabilization. The footage will be combined with footage from Antarctica shot earlier in the year by Mr. Phoenix Mourning-Star, a CSU graduate student. (Learn more).

SciTrek

Students came from all across the country to participate in SciTrek learned how to be independent critical thinkers, assess scientific literature, design and execute critical experiments, and interpret and represent results of complex scientific experiments. Research was conducted in state-of-the-art learning studios using Small-Scale Science techniques with personal mentoring from Dr. Stephen Thompson and other first-class researchers and professors. (Learn more)

Summer Vet

The Summer Vet Program is a student's ticket to the world of veterinary medicine! For students who are serious about becoming a veterinarian, this is a super opportunity to look into the real and sometimes gritty field of veterinary medicine. Through presentations, demonstrations, laboratories, visits, and in-depth, hands-on activities, students discover what modern veterinary medicine is about. Partcipants meet professors, practitioners, and students in the discipline and have ample opportunity to talk with them. (Learn more)

Juan Martinez Awarded Top Honors at National SACNAS Conference

CSMATE undergraduate Research Assistant, Juan Martinez, presented a poster at the National SACNAS conference in Dallas October 15-18 that was recognized as one of the top projects. SACNAS is a scientific society dedicated to fostering the success of Hispanic/Chicano and Native American scientists. Juan's project used the techniques of small-scale chemistry to study naturally fluorescent wood from Mexico and the Philipines. The wood comes from medicinal trees Eysenhardtia Polystachya, Pterocarpus Indicus, and Haematoxylum Brasiletto that have been used to treat kidney ailments.

The Labtop Project

With the help of Tablet PCs, students in the first-year integrated chemistry course are engaging in a new, technology-based chemistry which could eventually displace the large lecture/recitation learning strategy in favor of a student-centered, inquiry-based approach.

In the Labtop System, being developed by Dr. Stephen Thompson, Director of CSMATE and a Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State, the Tablet PC is placed at the point of learning. Tablets combine the computational power needed for science and engineering with the portability of paper and the wireless connectivity of a laptop. The Labtop system seamlessly unites lecture, laboratory work, use of instruments, homework and field work, literature searching, modeling, and embedded assessment using interdisciplinary case studies. The Labtop System allows students to develop higher-level critical thinking skills as students design their own experiments integrating well-crafted research questions, robust procedures and the opportunity to strengthen their communication skills.

The research is funded through a $415,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s FIPSE program (Fund to Improve Postsecondary Education). (Press Release)

A 20-minute video, previews just a small sample of the benefits of conducting science experiments directly on the surface of a pen-based Tablet PC. (Download Video) (Learn more)

CSMATE is sponsored by the College of Natural Sciences at Colorado State University