Education and Outreach

At a Glance

Overview
Public Outreach
Teacher Collaboration Program
K-12 Outreach Activities
College Level
Faculty
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Contacts
Additional Resources

Overview

A diverse array of activities are planned for different aspects of NIMBioS education and outreach, with varying target audiences and associated methods. Plans for these aspects of varying target audiences include those grouped into programs oriented towards a pre-college and general public audience, a college audience, and a professional audience, with elements overlapping all of these.

Education and Outreach Spotlight

outreach

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Public Outreach

NIMBioS is focused on reaching out to the community with programs to promote knowledge and interdisciplinary education to the public. Thanks to those who visited us at:
Earthfest 2009 in Knoxville April 18, 2009 at Pellissippi State Technical Community College
Earth Day 2009 in Oak Ridge, TN April 25, 2009.
For the NIMBioS Earth Day flyer click here.
For the NIMBioS invasive species game click here.
Also, please join us for up-to-date information from the NIMBioS education and outreach Twitter at: http://twitter.com/NIMBioS

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Teacher Collaboration Program

The Teacher Collaboration Program hosted by NIMBioS is intended to provide links between teachers, scientists, and educators with interest in mathematical biology. Math or biology/science teachers interested in making connections between the fields are encouraged to participate. We invite individuals to join the collaboration program and we will match participants from different communities in a bi-directional partnership to enhance the cross-disciplinary approach to mathematics and biology.

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K-12 Outreach Activities:

Biology in a Box is a fun and challenging way for entire schools to enhance their life sciences curriculum at all grade levels, and to encourage student interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. The program employs a hands-on, inquiry-based approach to teach the wonders of the living world, as well as introducing the scientific methods and math skills we use to understand that world. NIMBioS is now partnering with Biology in a Box at the University of Tennessee (PI: Dr. Susan Riechert) to add math exercises to these amazing boxes.

outreach

Biology By Numbers! NIMBioS offers numerous educational opportunities, including fun classes for budding young scientists. This summer NIMBioS paired with the University of Tennessee's Kids U program to offer a week-long class called Biology by Numbers!. Students in grades 4 through 7 met each morning June 15-19 on UT's campus to learn about biology using mathematics.

NIMBioS Video

NIMBioS contributed to the Mu Alpha Theta National Convention in Knoxville, July 19-24, 2009, through speakers at the convention and facilitating campus tours for students. Mu Alpha Theta is the national high school mathematics honor society.

Speakers at the convention included Suzanne Lenhart, NIMBioS Associate Director for Education, Outreach and Diversity, Susan Sachs, Education Coordinator of Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Lynne Parker, UT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department.

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College Level:

REU and REV program- NIMBioS will sponsor Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Research Experiences for Veterinary Students again in 2010. Veterinary students (DVM or VMD) and undergraduate majors in math, biology, and related fields will live on campus June 7 through July 30 and work in teams with UTK professors on research projects.

NIMBioS organized and hosted an Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface Between Biology and Mathematics October 23-24, 2009. Faculty and Minority Serving Institution partners and high school teachers were invited to see the research of these undergraduates. Click here for conference schedule.

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Faculty

Workshops:

NIMBioS co-sponsored, along with HHMI and BioQuest, a faculty workshop called NUMB3RS COUNT! (May 29-31, 2009), which addressed the gap between mathematics and its application in biological problem solving. Participants worked in small groups to explore mathematical modeling and visualization with data.

NIMBioS, SCALE-IT, and BioQuest co-sponsored an Undergraduate Biology Curriculum Workshop called Integrating Bioinformatics and Molecular Visualization into the Undergraduate Biology Curriculum (June 22-26) for faculty on bioinformatics and visualization, which are rapidly developing research approaches throughout the biological, physical, and mathematical sciences curriculum. The emphasis was on creating teaching units that apply biological problem solving strategies to real problems in medicine, epidemiology, forensics, agriculture, and conservation.

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park

NIMBioS is partnering with the GSMNP for collaboration in research and education projects. This collaboration will include working together on teacher workshops, student camps, and outreach to the public.

NIMBioS participated in the Girls in Science program at Tremont June 22-27, 2009. Created for rising 8th grade girls, Girls in Science Camp promotes conducting hands-on science in the Park. Girls got up-close and personal with the biodiversity of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. For a worksheet related to our Science Camp program, click here for Word (.doc) format or here for PDF format.

The Smoky Mountains Science Teacher Institute at Tremont, June 14-19, 2009, was also visited by NIMBioS this year. For one week, teachers immersed themselves in the biological diversity of the Smokies and returned home with exciting new ideas for involving their students in hands-on science.

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