2010 Summer Workshop

On May 15, 2010, the Jhumki Basu Foundation launched the Sci-Ed Fellows Program under the leadership of Peg Maddocks (Program Manager) and Andrew Lieberman (Platform Manager).

JBF has recruited its first year Sci-Ed Fellows from schools in the New York City area. The 20 Fellows teach science in grades 6 through 12 and were selected because of their passionate commitment to Jhumki’s vision for equity in science, that is making science relevant and engaging for all urban youth.

The Fellows participated in a summer workshop at NYU July 26-29 and continue to collaborate throughout the school year to share strategies, lessons, and resources to promote the adoption of best practices that reflect Jhumki’s vision. Long term collaboration will take place in the Sci-Ed Innovators online community that will link the Fellows to resources, subject matter experts, and other science educators.

The workshop focused on the framework and concepts that Jhumki developed about the democratization of science, such as encouraging students to have a voice in making their curriculum relevant to their daily lives and to create their own studies of science inquiry and individual expertise.

The Fellows participated in interactive lectures on topics such as Framework for Democratic Science Teaching by Dr. Edna Tan of University of North Carolina, Science for the Urban Hip-Hop Generation by Dr. Christopher Emdin of Columbia Teachers College, and Overcoming Barriers that Marginalize Science Education by Dr. Maria Rivera Malucci of Barnard College. They spent time exploring and building on Jhumki’s conceptual frameworks by applying them to their own classrooms, viewing and discussing video examples of expert teaching, creating lesson ideas and teaching strategies, and linking resources to the collaboration community platform.

Following the workshop, the Fellows will evolve their lesson ideas and strategies, share examples of student work, collaborate to solve instructional problems, generate solutions to the challenges they face, and share progress. They will meet again in November to share best practices and their progress, and to bring students and their projects to Sci-Ed Innovators Day 2011. They will attend a culminating event in June together with their students to celebrate their accomplishments, learning, and success.

After completing their year as a Sci-Ed Fellow, the teachers will become mentors for the 2011 cohort to be selected next spring.

Peg Maddocks

Andy Lieberman

Edna Tan

Christopher Emdin

Maria Rivera Malucci