Default | NEWS

8/8/2007

K-12 outreach enlivens campus during summer quiet
Music, computer science, business and writing programs aim to make learning fun

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News Staff

Though many Rice students headed home for the summer, the campus has been vibrant with activities for the next generations of college students and their teachers. It's all part of Rice's outreach programs for kindergarteners to high schoolers (K-12).

MICHAEL SIROIS

Middle school students apply computer science principles to their robotics lab. More than 40 female students attended the five-day camp.

"Ensuring the highest quality of education for our children is everybody's responsibility," Provost Eugene Levy said. "We at Rice are glad that so many in our community are committed to improving education by regularly working with teachers from across the Houston region, and around the nation and the world. When our researchers and staff reach out to engage K-12 teachers in this way, they are helping the university fulfill a critically important part of its mission and responsibility to society."

Teachers came from all over the world to attend Rice's many outreach programs like the country's largest Advanced Placement Summer Institute, the School Mathematics Project and the Elementary Science Lab Program, which was recently renewed by Houston Independent School District. Many other departments on campus trained teachers in the sciences and facilitated their research in Rice labs.

Rice outreach didn't end with the teachers; rather it extended to the K-12 students themselves. From music camps for 2-year-olds to a computer science class for middle schoolers to a business program for high school upperclassmen, the programs were designed with students in mind.

JEFF FITLOW

A child in the Summer Creative Writing Workshop gets into character for a reading performance.

Musical expressions

More than 100 children ages 2-9 explored music through hands-on activities during day camps at the Shepherd School of Music. The children learned rhythm games, built percussion instruments and created musical stories that encouraged creativity and taught them about the science of sound,

"Since children learn by doing, we structure the camps in such a way that kids can develop natural musical instincts through joyful participation," said Rachel Buchman, lecturer in music. "When children experience music physically, they understand the basic language and fundamental concepts of music. Those building blocks encourage confidence and inspire expression in many aspects of their lives."

The weeklong camps culminated in performances for family and friends featuring the campers' newly acquired music skills.

For more developed musicians, the Shepherd School offered piano and vocal camps through the Michael P. Hammond Preparatory Program. The program's mission is to prepare K-12 music scholars for a lifetime of study and enjoyment.

In the Summer Institute for Piano, 17 students spent a week in June developing their talents in one-on-one sessions with master teachers, group lessons and performances. That same week, 20 students enrolled in the Summer Vocal Camp enhanced their singing and performance skills through private lessons, theatrical events and scene rehearsals.

Although the students varied in age and came from many different backgrounds, their love of music quickly emerged as a unifying factor.

JEFF FITLOW

Karen Capo reads with children during the Summer Creative Writing Workshop. The program served more than 500 Houston students.

"It was so heartwarming to see the students all find their places here," said Virginia Nance, lecturer in music. "Whether they were 6 or 16 and from California or Poland, they fit in and became a family who eats together, works together and plays together. As much as we at the Shepherd School reached out to them, they reached out to each other."

Attracting girls to computer science

This summer, Rice branched out to female middle school students to generate enthusiasm for science and technology through a computer science camp. The program, directed by University Professor Richard Tapia and funded through Rice's VGrADS grant, was designed to give the students the knowledge and skills to succeed in male-dominated computer science classrooms.

Based on a similar program for female high school students, the camp was offered to middle-schoolers for the first time.

"With the success of our high school camp, we saw that many of the young women already had set their sites on their careers," said Michael Sirois, program manager in computer and applied mathematics. "So with this camp, we wanted to reach the students at a younger age."

Sirois said data shows that girls who are attracted to science and technology in elementary school begin to lose interest when they reach middle school.

"Our purpose is to give them a fascinating, unique look at the world of technology to rekindle their interest in high-tech careers," Sirois said.

COURTESY PHOTO

Local high school students attended the Rice Summer Business Institute to gain first-hand exposure to the fundamentals of money, financial markets and business.

More than 40 female middle school students were selected to attend the camp based on  recommendations from their teachers and counselors. The five-day camp taught robotics, digital photography, Web design and programming. The students also attended presentations by Rice professors and female graduate students in the computer science field.

Tomorrow's business leaders

Forty-seven local high school students came to campus this summer for the Rice Summer Business Institute (RSBI), "Money and Business 101" course.

Each student left with 70 hours of intensive, experiential learning covering a variety of business topics, and five students received competitive internships at Merrill Lynch, the RSBI underwriter. The interns spent three days a week at the company working with business professionals in the commodities and global private clients divisions.
 
RSBI strives to prepare its students to be future business leaders by giving them first-hand exposure to the fundamentals of money, financial markets and business. All students come from economically disadvantaged communities in Houston.
 
The program, administered by the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, covers a broad range of business topics aimed at interesting the students in the world of business and broadening their expectations of possible careers. The students took fieldtrips to Merrill Lynch and corporate sponsors AIM, ConocoPhillips and the Houston Texans.
 
"One of the most important aspects of our program is its focus on hands-on learning," said Jill Foote ’87, a Jones School lecturer of management who directs the RSBI. "The students simulated trading in our finance center and researched a stock, culminating in a team presentation. Frequently we divided the students into smaller groups, particularly for business communications exercises, resulting in more interaction with one another and faculty members."
 
This year's high schoolers benefited from significant interaction with Rice students. Kenitra Brown’07, Black Student Association President, served as the institute’s teaching assistant. Black and Hispanic MBA student association members also volunteered to work with the high school students on a number of activities.

Though the institute's classroom work ended in June, RSBI continues to guide the students through mentorship programs and ongoing invitations to events such as the Hispanic MBA association’s “Education for Success” program in September and an annual networking event in January.

Empowering the pen

For more than 15 years, Rice's School Literacy and Culture Project has teamed with Writers in the Schools (WITS), a local nonprofit that engages children in the pleasure and power of reading and writing, to present the Summer Creative Writing Workshop.

The goal of the workshop is to create a supportive environment where children write stories, poetry, essays and plays. Teachers and WITS-affiliated writers in each classroom integrate visual and written arts and encourage students to write.

At the end of the three-week, half-day camp, each class publishes an anthology of their students' work. All classes host a reading during the last week of camp.

"It is important that we offer something that is fun and child-centered, but academic in nature," said Connie Floyd, project director at the Center for Education. "As a native Houstonian, I know that many families look to Rice in the summer for something for their children and we are pleased to have a well-respected program to offer."

The workshop began as a professional development opportunity for teachers to learn new writing tools and techniques and for writers to learn classroom management and child development skills. As the collaboration matured, more people took part in the program.

"People start calling us in December to get involved in the summer program," Floyd said.

The Summer Creative Writing Workshop reached children from many parts of the city, with nearly 500 K-12 students attending the workshop at Annunciation Orthodox School and 35 K-5 children attending at the Aldine Academy.