Science Discovery Celebrates Successful Summer

Programs: Science Discovery

CU-Boulder’s science education outreach program, Science Discovery, celebrated a hugely successful summer with the completion of 234 hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) camps, academies, and workshops for kids ages 5 to 18. Over the course of two and a half months from June 1 to August 14, the program reached 1,893 students with a total of 3,025 program registrations.

Science Discovery offered 25 new camps and workshops this summer, including Girls in STEM: Model Rockets, Spy School, Medieval Siege, and Programming with Python. Each program is designed to increase STEM literacy in students from all backgrounds and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Learn more about Science Discovery summer camps.

Innovative Engineering Research in the Classroom

Two programs in particular, the Photo-Origami Research Experience and Mentorship Program and the Engineering is Everywhere camp, recently gained the attention of local media. These complimentary programs gave high school and grade school students, respectively, the opportunity to explore engineering techniques involving light activated 3D structures. Using heat lamps and a common shape memory polymer—also known as Shrinky Dinks—Science Discovery students mimicked current engineering research at the University of Colorado Boulder. These unique programs piqued the interest of students and broadened their views about future study and career options.

Read the Boulder Daily Camera’s article about the Photo-Origami Research Experience and Mentorship Program for high school students.

Read or listen to Colorado Public Radio’s coverage of the Engineering is Everywhere camp.

Partnership with Summer Discovery

Science Discovery also partnered with the pre-college enrichment program, Summer Discovery, this year to provide 94 high school students with hands-on STEM research and learning experiences. Students from around the United States and the world, including Lithuania, Saudia Arabia, and the Dominican Republic, came to the University of Colorado Boulder for three or four-week programs to immerse themselves in topics such as engineering, biotechnology, and neuroscience. Following the success of these programs this year, Science Discovery and Summer Discovery plan to expand them in 2016.

Explore the Summer Discovery CU-Boulder STEM program.

About Science Discovery

CU Science Discovery is a science education outreach program of the University of Colorado, Boulder’s Division of Continuing Education. Founded in 1983 to heighten young students’ interest in science, CU Science Discovery coordinates an array of programs that connect K-12 students and teachers to current CU science. Through hands-on summer camps and after-school classes, teacher workshops, school programs, and community outreach events, Science Discovery impacts approximately 30,000 students, teachers and community members throughout Colorado each year.