Rutgers Family Science

Rutgers Family Science is an after school family involvement program that fosters curiosity and helps parents and teachers work with elementary school children to channel that curiosity in productive ways. The program seeks to increase the study of science by elementary school students, particularly among female and ethnic/racial minority students who have been traditionally underrepresented.

Children and adults come together once a week for six weeks to collaborate in hands-on science activities and experiments, to share insights and to problem solve. All activities, available in English and Spanish, are open-ended, use inexpensive, readily-available materials, and enlarge the elementary science curriculum by including math-based physical science and chemistry in addition to more traditional biology.

In addition, families have the opportunity to meet with women and men working in science-based professions who discuss their work as well as demonstrate the role science and mathematics play in career choices.

Children learn that the essence of science is curiosity, inventiveness, critical thinking and persistence. While everyone is having fun, they are actually gaining science process skills, thinking scientifically and learning about the contributions to science from many cultures.

Goals

To demystify science for children and parents by providing:

• time for families to test, tinker and talk about science in a non-threatening atmosphere;
• opportunities for families to experience the process of scientific investigation;
• activities that build on direct experiences with hands-on materials;
• contributions to science from many different cultures.

To create a partnership between home and school through:

• activities that use inexpensive and readily available materials that can be found at home;
• experiments to reinforce the science curriculum taught at school;
• dialogues between parents and teachers.

To improve attitudes towards science by illustrating:

• that scientific literacy is essential for the 21st century;
• science is for all students, especially females and minorities;
• the day-to-day ways science is already a part of their lives;
• that science is useful in future schooling and careers;
• that doing science can be fun!

FOUR-DAY TRAINING WORKSHOPS

Four days of Rutgers FAMILY SCIENCE training prepares educators to establish and conduct Rutgers FAMILY SCIENCE classes for families at their schools. The training workshop provides 24 hours of professional development. The Center for Family Involvement in Schools and the Rutgers Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education, which sponsor the training workshops, are registered as professional development providers with the New Jersey Department of Education.

The workshop fee is $1,795 for a team of two teachers and the cost for a single registration (only to replace member of team) is $950*, and includes the following:

• hands-on practice in specially designed science activities (in English and Spanish) for use with children and parents;

• specific connections to the national and NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards in science and mathematics;

• career and equity activities that demonstrate the importance of science to all children's futures;

• Rutgers FAMILY SCIENCE Teacher's Manuals, plus openers, multicultural quilts and timelines, and other resources;

• on-going technical assistance;

• breakfast and lunch each day.

^* We strongly recommend that Rutgers Family Science Programs be administered by teams of two. Single registrations will be accepted on the basis of replacing team members in existing programs or completing teams when two cannot attend the same session.

Rutgers FAMILY SCIENCE training meets requirements for Title I, Title II, Title VII, NJ Statewide Systemic Initiative, School-to-Work Opportunities Act, Goals 2000, Eisenhower and Carl Perkins funding.

Rutgers FAMILY SCIENCE is professional development activity endorsed by both the NJEA Professional Development Institute and the NJ Statewide Systemic Initiative.