Monday June 25th – Thursday June 29th, 2012: As part of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry’s outreach efforts through the REU Program, Casey and 6 JMU Chem professors helped run a science camp at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (VSDB). The camp was themed “Trash to Treasure”. The goal was to show students what research and science are about.
JMU was involved on Monday – Wednesday afternoons, with 2 professors presenting each afternoon, many times bringing their research students with them. Additionally sign interpreting students also went to VSDB. Each professor had a worksheet for the students do follow along with, to get them in the practice of writing down their observations as scientists do. Each student’s worksheets were kept in a JMU folder that we gave them, similar to how scientists record observations in a lab notebook. Tuesday was spent at Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton.
Monday:
Dr. Devore – What is Chemistry?
Dr. Havey – What is the Nature of Light?
Tuesday:
Dr. Downey – What is Water Quality?
Dr. Hughey – How Do We Clean Up Water?
Wednesday:
Dr. Caran – What is a Polymer?
Dr. MacDonald – What is a Protein?
Additionally, on Thursday, the campers came to JMU for a tour around the building where they interacted with many Deaf college students. They visited JMU’s arboretum, had lunch on campus and toured JMU’s recycling facility. The day was wrapped up with a magic show.
This program was supported in part by funding provided by the National Science Foundation grant CHE-1062629, “REU Site: Integrating Hearing and Deaf Students in Undergraduate Chemical Research.” Additional funding was provided by James Madison University in support of this grant.
