It's Showtime for High School Science Teams in the Desert Research Institute N-STEP Program
Students and Teachers to show what they learned and discovered
After a summer of searching for clues to climate change in Death
Valley, chasing down microorganisms in ponds in the Ruby Mountains, and
measuring ultraviolet radiation at Lake Tahoe, 15 Nevada high school
science teams in the Desert Research Institute's N-STEP program will
present the results of their research experiences in Las Vegas on January
22.
N-STEP, the Nevada Science Teachers Enhancement Program, is a
National Science Foundation-sponsored project conducted by DRI to
increase the real-world science teaching experience in Nevada high
schools. Poster demonstrations and oral presentations at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas will consume an entire Saturday, giving the
student-teacher teams a taste of the kind of rigorous evaluation that
professional scientists must endure.
NSTEP Program Director Paul Buck, a DRI archaeologist, said the
students and teachers completed intensive research training from
scientists at DRI, UNLV and Northern Arizona University last spring
before heading out on extended summer field projects. Dr. Buck said
groups of teams from five high schools collaborated on each of three
projects during the summer, and in the analysis and report-writing phase
this last fall semester. The teams communicated through special web
sites set up by DRI for the program.
Posters presenting each team's research findings will be
displayed in UNLV's Richard Tam Alumni Center on the morning of January
22, followed by an afternoon of presentations of their conclusions in
the Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium. Judges will announce the best
poster and oral presentations at an evening award banquet in the Alumni
Center.