Educators

A student at Schenectady High School's Math, Science and Technology house demonstrates his team's HS on Mars project to his father at their Showcase in May 2005.

Manhattan Center for Science and Math, Authentic Science Research team at their Symposium, June 2005.

Participation in SciCentr/SciFair programs begins through a process of engagement. SciCentr provides Educators’ Professional Development Workshops to familiarize educators interested in SciCentr programs and the SciFair model. While we do support onsite and remote group visits into CUni, we recommend that teachers/educators participate in a professional development workshop prior to brining their students into the environment. In order to coach a SciFair team, coaches must receive training. Educators interested in creating their own projects for CUni, must have completed at least one year as a SciFair coach.

All of our programs provide us with valuable feedback through the use of surveys, interviews, video and chat documentation (in compliance with appropriate human subjects procedures). We also support and communicate with a community of educators and developers with a shared interest in using virtual worlds for formal and informal education, in particular VLearn3D.org.

SciCentr provides five kinds of programs for middle and high school students:

1. Group visits to our virtual science exhibit worlds for middle and high school
2. Short workshops, generally in conjunction with campus-wide outreach, for example Cornell Cooperative Extension 4H Career Explorations
3. Inworld Experiences, curriculum-based activities for the classroom
4. Teen internships as virtual world developers in collaboration with community and regional educational institutions;
5. SciFair team programs that link teens at remote high schools with Cornell undergraduate student mentors, researchers, and Scicentr staff in collaborative, constructivist development of original virtual world exhibits.

For more information on any of our programs, or if you wish to become involved, please contact us.

Information on upcoming events, as well as descriptions of past events, is available.