Cambridge, Md. (September 20, 2006) – The number of students on the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) campus will increase this week, but not due to an unexpected influx of graduate students. A new partnership between the UMCES Horn Point Laboratory and Dorchester County Public Schools will bring all 450 seventh grade students from throughout the county to the Horn Point Lab to learn first-hand about science and their local environment.
“Providing today’s young students the opportunity to learn about scientific research is as essential as providing them the tools to read and write,” said UMCES Horn Point Laboratory Director Mike Roman. “We hope that their first-hand learning experiences at Horn Point will help encourage them to become first-class scientists in the future.”
“This new partnership provides Dorchester County students an opportunity to get into the field and reinforce lessons they have learned in the classroom,” said Dorchester County Public Schools Superintendent Frederic R. Hildenbrand. “By working with the Horn Point Laboratory, we can give Dorchester County students a chance to learn about science at a world-class research facility.”
Each day, about 60 seventh grade students and their teachers will visit the Horn Point Lab to conduct experiments on underwater grasses. Following up on classroom lessons about photosynthesis, students will study how the bay grasses turn sunlight into energy that helps them grow. After their field experience, teachers will conduct follow-up lessons back in the classroom. |
Students from Dorchester County Conducting Dissolved Oxygen Experiments at the Horn Point Lab. |
“Studies show that hands-on learning helps students do better in the classroom,” said UMCES Horn Point Researcher Dr. Laura Murray. “Because of this new partnership, Dorchester County students will get a chance to learn from some of the best researchers the region has to offer. At the same time, students will gain knowledge which will help them meet the Maryland State Department of Education Voluntary State Curriculum goals.”
Local residents interested in finding out more about environmental education and other programs at the Horn Point Laboratory can tour the facilities as part of Horn Point’s October 14 Open House. For more information, please visit http://www.hpl.umces.edu/openhouse.
The Horn Point Laboratory is part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the principal research institution for advanced environmental research and graduate studies within the University System of Maryland. With laboratories in Frostburg, Solomons Island and Cambridge, UMCES researchers are helping improve our scientific understanding of Maryland, the region and the world. |
