Newswise — Many of the 5,000 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina to the Houston public schools received hands-on science education from the ScienceMobile, which was been provided by the Community Science Workshops, a National Science Foundation-funded network of 11 workshops in cities across the country.
The ScienceMobile, a 40-foot-long classroom on wheels, spent four weeks touring Houston schools serving students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, said University of Massachusetts Boston Provost Paul F. Fonteyn, who has used more than $6 million in NSF funding to develop the after-school workshops for underserved neighborhoods in 11 cities, including Houston and New Orleans.
"The hurricanes have taken a terrible toll on the people of the Gulf Coast, especially on thousands of school children who have lost their schools and been separated from friends and classmates," said Fonteyn. "Our workshop coordinators saw the chance to allow these children have some fun and learn science at the same time."
The $285,000 ScienceMobile is equipped with computers, high-tech communications equipment and tubs of materials for fun lessons in chemistry, physics and biology. It makes its home in Fresno, California, where it was built through a partnership of the local Community Science Workshop and the City of Fresno. Funding for the vehicle came from the U.S. Department of Education.
UMass Boston, the National Science Foundation, the City of Fresno, the Children's Museum of Houston and the Community Science Workshops teamed up to bring the ScienceMobile to Houston schools and shelters to provide fun and educational activities for youth and families.
Tammie Kahn, executive director of the Children's Museum of Houston, the agency that partners with the workshops in Houston, said the addition of the ScienceMobile to relief efforts was a necessary component of the city's work to aid nearly 200,000 evacuees.
"To have exciting and engaging ways to learn science, to problem-solve, to learn to work with others is hugely important," Kahn said. "Even if we're serving a family that plans to be home by Christmas, their children still need to learn and still need good activities to participate in. We know that the science workshops are proven programs."
The science workshops provide services predominantly after school, from locations in host schools, parks and community centers. Each center has a partner agency, such as a city department or a non-profit organization, which provides additional funding or helps leverage resources to sustain the workshops over time.
Houston and Fresno both have workshops based in inner-city neighborhoods. Other cities in the workshop network include Boston, Miami, Washington D.C., Newark, N.J. and Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, and Watsonville, Calif.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed the workshop in New Orleans and efforts are underway to raise funds to rebuild the site. The workshop network is also working to establish new sites in hurricane-affected areas in Mississippi and Alabama.
Hosted by UMass Boston, the Community Science Workshops network has for more than 10 years demonstrated that the workshops are capable of serving a large number of children and providing long-term support for youth. The workshops and their partner agencies develop multi-faceted science-focused programming that serves youth, parents, and teachers. The goal of each workshop is to become self-sustaining.
NOTE: Professional photographs of the ScienceMobile and its staff in Houston are available, as well as images of the Community Science Workshop in Houston.
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