COMmunities Educating Tomorrow's Scientists (COMETS)

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The three-year "COMmunities Educating Tomorrow's Scientists (COMETS)" project will implement an earth and space science program with the focus of learning science as inquiry at West Virginia State University, a historically black university, with partners Kanawha County Schools, Bayer Crop Science Corporation and the West Virginia Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences. "COMETS" targets 300 low-income, underrepresented and minority students at four community centers in Charleston, WV, for inclusion in a NASA-centered informal science education program. Through innovative hands-on investigations coordinated with students' formal curricula this program will excite, inspire, promote academic achievement and expand regular school time learning experiences for students in grades 3-6. The "COMETS" parent program, "The Family Tree," is an embracing center that makes an aggressive, deliberate effort to reach parents and custodians of elementary and middle school students to encourage them to help their children achieve their academic goals in math and science and realize the connection between their lives and science. In addition to enhancing achievement, the anticipated outcome of "COMETS" includes promoting positive attitudes toward science education by both parents and students, inspiring students to choose science for their future education and employment paths, and improving the knowledge and appreciation of earth and space sciences in participating educators. Through the professional development of approximately 50 formal, informal and pre-service educators, both "COMETS" students and other students of these trained educators will learn science as inquiry and will be exposed to high quality curricula and materials for approximately two hours per week during the academic year, three hours per week during the six-week summer program, and 30 hours during "COMETS" day camp in the summer of 2008. Participating educators collaborate in vertical teams through a professional learning community to guide "COMETS" activities to support and complement formal curricula.