Outreach Opportunity Alerts
Outreach Opportunity Alerts connect members of the Caltech community with educational outreach opportunities in the Pasadena community and beyond for which they can volunteer. They are published monthly.
To join the newsletter mailing list for Outreach Opportunity Alerts, members of the Caltech community can sign up here: http://eepurl.com/daAaeP or email Kitty Cahalan, kcahalan@caltech.edu. Please give Kitty your name, email address, Caltech affiliation (undergraduate, graduate student, postdoc, faculty or staff) and department, option or research group.
September 2024
In this space last month, we wrote about the weather getting hot, but now we're really in the cooker, staying in the shady paths as we walk between buildings, taking the long way around the campus construction and trying not to get scorched. Here in CTLO, we're kicking prep for 2024-25 into high gear, with plans to welcome new students later this month. K-12 schools are back in session and our programs will get going once we've finished recruiting among new and current researchers. It's shaping up to be a great year for Caltech to bring the public to campus, from the PST Art & Science Collide installations opening later this month to the Science Journeys series' new season kicking off in October. CTLO's outreach office has many ways to get you involved in public outreach, too! See below for some of the current opportunities. Graduate students from Joe Parker's lab show young people the beetles they research at the Caltech Postdoctoral Associations Science for March on March 16, 2019
Explore Caltech Needs Volunteers
On Saturday, September 28, the Caltech Postdoctoral Association will be hosting Explore Caltech, a family-oriented event for the public featuring hands-on science demos and talks. They are still recruiting among Caltech researchers for volunteers to host tables featuring fun science activities. CTLO is happy to help identify fun activities if you don't have one, and has materials for loan, as well.
If you're interested in volunteering, please sign up here: https://forms.gle/koPKRtxkVfRCUjcN9
Additional information is available here: https://cpa.caltech.edu/events/explore-caltech-1
If you've signed up and want a consultation on a good activity to do/borrow, contact Kitty Cahalan at kcahalan@caltech.edu.
Presenters Wanted for Aveson Global Leadership Academy
A local middle school teacher (who used to volunteer for our Visiting Scientists program and runs Caltech's EQ Fellows program each summer!) at Aveson's middle/high school campus would love to have a variety of science/engineering graduate students or interested faculty to come visit her classroom this year. She's teaching a STEM Lab elective this year, in addition to all middle school science classes. In STEM Lab, she's hoping to welcome a few different scientists/engineers into the classroom to share their experiences, as well as provide some fun demos. She's willing to work with the volunteer to help develop ideas or put together activities, as well.
If interested please contact Kitty Cahalan at kcahalan@caltech.edu to be put in touch with the teacher.
STEM Outreach Club
Caltech Educational Outreach is advising a STEM Outreach Club currently in the founding stages, a club which would perform demonstrations and hands-on activities at local school science nights and public science events, as well as help find volunteers for these events. We have a large closet full of demonstrations to start with, and are always eager to help Caltechers develop new ways to connect eager audiences to interesting concepts.
If you're an undergraduate, graduate student or a postdoc who is interested in the STEM Outreach club, please contact Kitty Cahalan at kcahalan@caltech.edu to discuss more details and be connected with club founders.
CTLO Outreach Programs for 2024-25
The Outreach Office is preparing for the start of all of our academic year programs, and we are always seeking volunteers for them!
Science Nights are opportunities for volunteers to get off campus and out into the local community, where you can do fun, hands-on science activities or talk about your work with young students and families. All Caltechers are welcome to volunteer. We can supply materials for you to use and help provide transportation and meals on event nights. There's no minimum number of events you must attend, sign up for whatever works for your schedule, and check back frequently, as this list is updated with new events throughout the year: https://www.volunteersignup.org/8M7FR
Visiting Scientists is a teaching program that provides an opportunity for graduate students and postdocs to hone their pedagogical skills in an elementary school setting while developing relationships with students in a specific grade at our partner school, Madison Elementary. Each grade-level team teaches twice a month throughout the year.
SEAL is a research program that pairs one to three Caltech graduate student or postdoc mentors with one of four local high school clubs to work on sustainable energy research projects weekly throughout the school year. The program concludes with a seminar and poster session in May.
Finally, we help coordinate many Lab Tours - great opportunities for middle or high school groups that are farther away from campus and may not normally have easy access to Caltech or Caltechers - to introduce students to Caltech researchers and show off the spaces where they work. We are always seeking those willing to host a tour of their lab or provide an activity on campus for these groups.
Please contact Kitty Cahalan at kcahalan@caltech.edu if you're interested in any of these opportunities.
Local Middle School Robotics Team Seeks Help
Are you a former robotics team competitor, or someone with some level of expertise or who is interested in robotics? Sierra Madre Middle School has a very popular FTC robotics program which is in need of some mentors to help support the science teacher who coaches the team. They meet Tuesdays at 3:15 at the middle school. If you'd like to help, please contact Kitty Cahalan, kcahalan@caltech.edu
Develop and Teach STEAM Curriculum in Burbank
Wanted: Short-Term STEAM Instructor
A teacher in Burbank is looking for an in-person STEAM teacher/instructor/scientist to come into their third-grade classrooms, to teach a 50-minute STEAM lesson to each of their 4 classes one day a week for an 8-week period, January - March (exact schedule to be determined).
They have funding for an 8-week STEAM (arts integrated is a must!) program (teacher and supplies) from their school's parent/teacher organization. They are looking to submit 2-3 names of amazing teachers/instructors to their principal for final approval.
This temporary STEAM teacher/instructor MUST provide a resume/applicable paperwork as requested by their school district/Board of Education.
The ideal lesson would include:
-an attention grabber
-a mini-lesson on the STEAM concept (hopefully forces and motion aligned with our third grade standards)
-a hands-on project/activity/product where students can feel successful and complete their work in the time allotted
-possibly a quick check for understanding at the end (the teachers can assist with this)
They would also encourage any lessons to align to third grade California NGSS standardshttps://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/pl/ngssstandards.asp and CA arts standards when possible.
If you or anyone you know are interested, please send your resume to amysheldon@burbankusd.org
McKinley School Seeks Math Field Day Coaches for 2024-25
McKinley School, a Pasadena Unified grades K-8 school a few blocks from Caltech, is looking for volunteers to serve as Math Field Day coaches for both upper elementary (grades 3-5) as well as middle school (grades 6-8) for next year. Math Field Day is a district-wide math competition held each spring, and winners move on to county competition.
Volunteers can commit to either elementary or middle school coaching, which involves a one day per week after-school meeting with the 8-12 team members from that grade span. A McKinley teacher will also be there to help supervise the students. Ideally, coaches will meet weekly with students starting in the fall and going through Math Field Day, which is usually held in March or early April.
If you are interested, please email Kitty Cahalan, kcahalan@caltech.edu, who can connect you with McKinley teachers for more information.
We Don't Just Do STEM Outreach!
We know that Caltech has people doing their studies and research in areas that are not considered STEM fields, and we'd love to have those of you this applies to do outreach, too! We also know all our students, staff and faculty have many other talents - are you an artist, photographer, writer, actor, dancer, athlete, musician? Do you have a hobby you'd like to share with people in our community? We can do outreach with that, too!
Please let Kitty Cahalan (kcahalan@caltech.edu) know if you're interested!
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Caltech Educational Outreach Office's programs run on volunteers! If you would like to join any of our programs, or if you have a program of your own that you'd like to bring to K-12 students, contact Kitty Cahalan, Assistant Director of Educational Outreach, at 626-395-2468 or kcahalan@caltech.edu.