May 21, 2002
Building bridges, colonizing planets and extracting DNA from onions: Middle school students flex math, science muscles at second annual PRIME Showcase
WHO
Middle school students from the Bellevue, Highline, Northshore, Seattle and Shoreline school districts, their teachers and University of Washington students taking part in the Partnerships for Research in Inquiry-based Math, Science and Engineering Education (PRIME) program.
WHAT:
The second annual PRIME Showcase, highlighting hands-on projects the partnerships have developed during the year to learn math, science and engineering principles.
WHEN:
3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow, May 22
WHERE:
The commons area in Mary Gates Hall, on the UW Seattle campus.
DETAILS:
Eleven PRIME teams will be on hand at Mary Gates Hall to show off projects they’ve developed during the school year to explore various aspects of math and science. The endeavors include designing, building and testing model bridges; creating mock roller coasters to study potential and kinetic energy and the conservation of energy; extracting DNA from onions while studying genetics and evolution; launching small rockets with eggs as passengers to explore Newton’s Laws; and colonizing an imaginary planet to better understand the complex relationship between humans and their environment. Funded by the National Science Foundation, PRIME seeks to promote learning among middle school students, teachers and the UW students selected as PRIME fellows. In addition to enriching the teaching of math, science and engineering for schoolchildren, the program exposes university math and science students to teaching with the goal of building a cadre of scientists and engineers who will en!
ter the workforce willing and able to improve the quality of K-12 education.
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For more information, contact UW Dean of Engineering Denice Denton, (206) 543-0340 or denton@engr.washington.edu. Details about PRIME can be found on the Web at www.engr.washington.edu/prime/
