SPEED ED: SPEED Lab K-12 Outreach
The SPEED ED Lab group is the educational outreach component of the SPEED Lab. Student members of SPEED ED are undergraduates planning to teach at the K-12 level after they graduate. They receive training to help with the planned K-12 outreach efforts of the SPEED Lab, with the following goals in mind:
- Seed Maine K-12 schools with teachers familiar with modeling and simulation in mathematical biology
- Expose K-12 students to these concepts, demonstrating some applications of mathematics and computers not typically seen at that level
- Provide training in mathematical and computer-simulation modeling to students interested in learning more, and the opportunity to participate in current research in mathematical biology
- Help recruit more students into fields such as mathematics, computer science, and biology, hopefully including possibly recruiting more students to enroll at the University of Maine and join the SPEED Lab
Outreach activities so far include
- Giving talks to K-12 students and teachers at Orono High School and in Tempe, AZ
- An interactive session exploring spatial models, with 24 7th-graders from the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science, & Engineering in New York City
- Hiring four students from Bangor High School to participate in a research project
- An interactive exploratory session with K-12 students and teachers from several schools, held at Presque Isle
- Regular participation for a semester in the "Technology and Engineering I: MATLAB and Analysis" course at Bangor High School's STEM Academy
If all goes well, additional outreach activities will follow later on. If you are a teacher or administrator at an area K-12 school, please feel free to contact Dr. Hiebeler if you are interested in arranging something at your school.