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Point to pictures at left & below to reveal captions |
| JCU initiates a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary effort - Project ¿QUÉ? | ||
 "See those little bugs crawling around inside? Gross, huh? ... Hey, is that a dragonfly larva? ... Something's wrong. Nothing's moving in my dish." The energy emanating from the 20 middle school students belies the fact this is summertime and they are in school. The youngsters from La Sagrada Familia Catholic Church are at John C  arroll
this week (July 17-21) taking part in Project
¿QUÉ? (Question,
Understand, Explain). On this Wednesday morning (July 19) they are peering through
microscopes at samples of water from the Shaker Lakes. "We start with a simple question and then have the students organize data, create basic graphs and write basic reports," explained Biology Professor Miles Coburn, who chairs the interdisciplinary team of JCU students and profs. They include: JCU's Janid Rodriguez '07, President of the Latin American Student Association, who recruited LASA members John Fababe '08, Andy Orta '09,and Caitlin Soucek '08 along with her sister Jady (a Tri-C student); Adjunct Biology Professor Michael Kimmel, Program Director for Master of Arts in Integrated Science; Assistant Mathematics & Computer Science Professor Jerry Moreno, who provides guidance on handling the data;  Assistant
English Professor Thomas Pace who, with graduate students Jon
Steiner '07 and Beth Tomlinson '07, works with the project participants
in the writing phase; Assistant Sociology Professor Gloria
Vaquera and Associate Multicultural Affairs Director Diane
Campbell, who are assessing
the project; and Margie Matos from La Sagrada Familia, recruited
the students from her parish and serves as liaison with the families. Projects ¿QUÉ? is multi-faceted. "We're following state math & science standards for 6th graders," Dr. Coburn said. "We'll be doing some tutoring during the school year and also engaging in social activities with them and their  families." For
example, this week concludes with a celebration in the Dolan Science Center and
an overnight in Bernet Hall. "We'll also follow up with our undergraduates," he added, "to see how a project like this enhances the college experience and supports retention." Dr. Coburn secured grants from the Bruening Foundation, the Nord Family Foundation and also received support from the Program in Applied Ethics and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. His goal is to expand Project ¿QUÉ? next year. |
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