On the road again: Science Express

The College of Science, through the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Biological Sciences, and Science K-12 Outreach, delivers research grade instruments to high schools and middle schools throughout central Indiana through the Scientific Instrumentation Van Project, better known as Science Express.

Science Express provides an opportunity for central Indiana students, from all backgrounds, to have hands-on learning experiences with instruments used in research laboratories today. These experiences increase the students' and teachers' skills and understanding of modern scientific technology.

The equipment, mounted on rolling carts, is delivered directly into the classroom for use by the students. Science Express creates opportunities for both teachers and students to learn both the theory and practice associated with scientific instrumentation.

Teachers attend training sessions in the summers, during which time they are trained on the instruments and develop experiments appropriate for the high school and middle school laboratories. Science Express places an emphasis on real world applications, demystification of the instruments, and linking experiments to student experiences. The use of a variety of instruments provides a wide range of laboratory experiments and allows teachers to customize their chemistry and biology curriculum to fit the needs of their students.

This summer 30 teachers participating in Science Express came to Purdue University for a two week workshop made possible with a grant received from the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. The workshop gave the teachers an opportunity to work with the equipment, develop new laboratory activities, and revamp current activities offered. These new laboratory activities will be posted online for all participants to use. Get more information about Science Express on the web.