Education & Outreach

Lafayette middle schoolers get a taste of college life through on-campus science programs, dance workshops, a museum tour and a rousing theatre production about the U.S. presidents.

Local high school students recently won the BoCo Youth Climate Challenge for a project that aims to help local businesses use clean energy. CU Boulder sponsored the challenge to engage Boulder County youth in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

A partnership between the Children’s Museum of Denver and Yuko Munakata, a CU Boulder psychology and neuroscience professor, helps educate the public about child development through interactive science activities.

Jim Hakala is hitting the road Friday with bins of captivating remnants of the ancient past. Among other things, he’s got fossilized fern, leaves, shark teeth, dinosaur bone, fish, petrified wood and a trilobite. This time, he’s targeting fourth grade classrooms in mostly northeastern Colorado with 12 of his “fossil kits,” courtesy of the CU Museum of Natural History, along with a standards-based curriculum for use by teachers.

Luke DeGregori and Carissa Marsh are almost as passionate about science education as they are about each other. Before the couple marries this July, they’re focused on their final semester at the University of Colorado Boulder and time well spent student teaching.

INC Classroom Outreach sends teams of CU-Boulder students into local schools to teach kids about the brain. They provide lessons on sleep, nutrition for the brain, emotions, head injury and general brain structure. The program is an extension of a large-scale effort to increase public awareness of brain research.

A panel discussion examining parental choice in public education will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Canyon Theater at the Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave. It is free and open to the public.

A project of a University of Colorado Boulder research center that recognizes public high schools for what they do to give all students rich and engaging opportunities to succeed is now open to schools nationwide.

The next Teen Science Cafe to be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the CU Museum of Natural History’s lower level BioLounge explores how botany can be used to solve crimes. The event is free and open to the public.

Sometimes the big moments for a musician happen nowhere near the recital hall or the practice room. Sometimes they happen on the other side of the world, in a classroom with a young student who can’t read sheet music, and who can barely speak your language. Classical guitarist Patrick Sutton (DMA'14) splits his time between performing and teaching students in nations without access to music education. He talks about his time spent in Afghanistan, Egypt and South Africa.