Science Explorations In Geology An Enrichment Program For Middle School Girls Paul Mayer and Patricia Coorough Burke Milwaukee Public Museum

Science Explorations Program NSF funding – Sue Borkin, Carla Penz, Nicky Espy, and Patricia Coorough Targets minority middle school girls in Milwaukee: an at risk group Three year program – First year geology and zoology (sixth graders) 12 weeks – Second year botany (seventh graders) 6 weeks – Third year biodiversity (eighth graders) 6 Weeks

The Geology Program After school program for geology Four schools participated Jackie Robinson Middle School Grand Avenue Middle School Sarah Scott Middle School Notre Dame Middle School For each school we: – Met twice a week for 6 weeks Two-hour sessions 24 hours total instruction – Transportation and snack included

Activities Developed for Geology Program 12 meetings – 4 geologist and 2 educators. Highlighting three activities – 77-foot geologic timeline – Biodiversity count of a Silurian reef diorama – Super stratigraphic cake of science

Geologic Time Line 77 feet long, 3 feet wide – One inch represents 5 million years – vinyl Wisconsin rocks, minerals and fossils placed next to timeline – Archean – Penokean – Baraboo – Wolf River – Keweenawan – Paleozoic

Summary of Geologic Timeline Cost about $600 to print Large space to set up Lots of rocks samples, especially large specimens, gets student’s attention Very good at showing geologic time Lots of information can be included or can focus on one time or set of rocks. Works well with geologic map.

Biodiversity of Silurian Reef Diorama Give tour of Silurian Reef Diorama Show students data from paper on Silurian reef diversity (Watkins, 1980 ) Ask question: “Is the diorama accurate?” Have students come up with way to test this

Summary of Silurian Reef Biodiversity Project Needs a diorama Lengthy, hands-on activity Ecology and fossil identification studied Links diorama to real fossils Can use scientific method Laser pointer very useful.

Super Stratigraphic Cake of Science Lessons in stratigraphy and baking

Summary Scientific method used Lengthy prep time Can be messy Helpful to link with cores and faults Do not use straws