In response to “World Year of Physics” in 2005 the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has expanded its educational outreach program with the creation of Carolina Physics on the Road (CPR).
Through CPR, we hope to reach a greater number of students in rural and under-resourced areas of North Carolina who might otherwise not be exposed to a program like ours. Our target audience is primarily middle-school students within a one-hour drive of Chapel Hill , NC , but ideally we would have age-appropriate programs for all K-12 grade levels throughout North Carolina . Our program is tailored to best meet the needs of the students and teachers we serve, with particular attention towards curriculum standards and testing required by the No Child Left Behind act.
As we expand our outreach program, we are coordinating with other groups that have similar interests and existing infrastructures that we can utilize to maximize our effectiveness.
• DESTINY – UNC-CH's Traveling Science Learning Program. Destiny is a fully-equipped wet-lab bus used primarily for biological investigations, and a second bus has recently been added with support from NASA. http://destiny.unc.edu
• Morehead Planetarium at UNC-CH – One of the largest planetariums in the U.S. http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org
• INSPIRE program at UNC-CH – service learning program for undergraduate students interested in becoming science teachers. http://www.unc.edu/~ropra/Inspire/Inspire.htm
• Apples Service Learning Program – This UNC organization coordinates with faculty members to provide service learning opportunities for students in the local community.
• Society of Physics Students at UNC-CH
• Other K-12 Traveling Science Programs (currently only 4 in NC) http://van.hep.uiuc.edu/van/ShowDirectory/NC.htm
• Institute for Science Learning – This is a newly-created group at UNC-CH to assist research faculty with the educational outreach component of their federally-funded grants. |
