Allison Kipple, co-sponsored by the University of Arizona Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

I became involved in outreach education as an undergraduate at the University of Colorado. It began innocently enough when I agreed to give tours of the aerospace facility where I worked. Some visiting teachers asked if I could help them beef up their space and technology units, and before I knew it I was completely immersed in outreach education - and loving it. In my last year as the volunteer outreach coordinator at the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, I gave space-related presentations and workshops to several thousand pre-college students. It was an incredibly rewarding experience, but I needed help!

Engineering students are pretty busy people. A lot of them also despise public speaking, so I had a tough time recruiting other students to help give outreach presentations. I also didn't have enough time to give appropriate support to those who did volunteer. In those hectic times I sketched out one possible solution which the Arizona Space Grant program has now supported - to offer a class on outreach education specifically tailored to the needs of engineering students. The course credit (with probable GPA boost) and transcript listing (looks good in an interview) will provide a practical justification for taking the class, to boost the more altruistic reasons for doing so. Students will additionally acquire valuable public speaking skills, keeping on that track of simultaneously working toward career goals and helping the community. During the class we'll discuss a variety of topics including: keys to a successful outreach presentation, phases in children's mental development, state education standards, and kindergarten crowd control. Several guest speakers will be brought into the class to elucidate particular topics. Over the course of the semester students will develop, test (with the class), and implement their own outreach programs.

In Colorado, I knew some fantastic teachers and prospective visiting speakers who would help make the outreach course a success. My first goal in implementing the class here at the University of Arizona was to meet the people active in outreach education here. I've been thoroughly impressed with the quality and amount of outreach which folks at this university are supporting. Now I need to jump in with my contribution. While I'm sketching out the course outline for Fall 2000, I'm also developing a new outreach program for my host department, electrical engineering. It's going to be a fun one - I hope you'll see it soon!

January 2000 Update:

One of my major goals for this year was to identify local teachers and university affiliates who would help make the planned engineering outreach course a success - both in terms of providing forums for the engineering students' programs and as guest lecturers in the class. I've attended teacher workshops where I've not only met highly-motivated teachers but also practicing engineers who've offered time and resources for the engineering outreach program. Through SAMEC, I've met a number of energetic individuals who are working through various university programs to improve education in our community. I'm genuinely impressed by the number of people involved and the quality of their work, and I look forward to working with them.

I gave a briefing on our plans for an outreach course at one SAMEC meeting, and I was very surprised to learn that two other groups had similar plans. Gail Burd of Molecular Biology has been offering a course titled "Science Connection" to undergraduates who plan to enter teaching careers. I'll be reviewing her class this spring. The recently-funded CATTS program will also be offering a similar class this spring. I'm happy to say that a fellow engineering student (and friend) was awarded a CATTS fellowship, and we'll be discussing what aspects of that program would be beneficial to ours.

In the meantime, I've been developing a new outreach presentation which is better suited for my host department of electrical engineering (previous presentations were space-related). It will be done by the end of January, and I think it will be educational and fun! Some Girl Scout troops are ready for the presentation when I'm finished, and I'll advertise it in the March SAMEC newsletter as well.

In the Fall 2000 semester, I took some science education courses (see http://samec.lpl.arizona.edu/) in the hope of improving my outreach activities, and now I'm actually doing a PhD project in the field of science education. I have found the field of science education to be very interesting, and I have found education outreach to be highly rewarding. I hope that this fellowship will encourage more of you to become involved in these activities!