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Assumption Offers Worcester Public School Students a Taste of College Life On their third and final visit of the semester on December 1, 2005, students performed an experiment on photosynthesis in two adjacent lab rooms of the Richard and Janet Testa Science Center. The students used spectroscopes to view different colors in spinach leaves and learned which colors reflect and absorb light. They also learned that chlorophyll makes a plant green and that plants make starch for energy. “This is a very successful program for our fifth graders,” said Heard Street teacher Susan Donahue. “They really enjoy the connection with the college students.” Students at Heard Street write to Assumption students before their visit and often exchange e-mail addresses with their new college friends to keep in contact after the lessons conclude. Both teachers and students at Heard Street not only enjoy coming to Assumption because of the relationships they form but also because they get exposed to college life and academics. “They get exposed to things they have never been exposed to,” said Heard Street teacher Jennifer Bacinskas. “This project gets our students hooked on science. It helps them look to the future and to consider science as a possible field of study.” “I like meeting new people and we get to do science projects with real science materials,” said Heard Street student Monica Ly. “This type of work makes all the kids feel successful,” added Bacinskas. “Individually this project might be hard for a certain student, but they find success through working in groups.” Patricia Reisert and Sr. Kathleen Livingstone, both lecturers in biology, teach the course at Assumption. AC Students who took the education concentration course this fall included sophomores Lee Atkinson, Eileen Brazer, Michelle Daigneault, Colleen Haugh, Meghan Lovett, Christine Marden, Kerri O’Dea, Liisa Walsh, and Ashley Wielgus. Freshmen who took the course were Erica Brunelle, Seana Clark, Keveny Glynn and Nicole Johnson. “It’s great to interact with kids,” said Haugh ’08. “We get to student teach at an earlier age (before senior year) than we normally would.” This course, which partners Assumption and Heard Street, has been in existence for over 10 years. The original program was supported by a $94,000 grant from the National Science Foundation in 1994. Reisert designed the present format of the course by getting an elementary school class involved so students could actually teach science in a lab format. This change helped to make the course interesting and pertinent for education concentration students who had to fulfill a science requirement. Both students at Assumption and Heard Street enjoy their time together and look forward to new teaching and learning opportunities. “Coming here is actually like a field trip,” said Heard Street student Kathryn Kalvinek. “It’s cool to learn new things." |
Worcester, MA - Exposure to college life starts very early for fifth grade students at the Heard Street Discovery Academy. Through an ongoing partnership with Assumption College, the fifth grade class at Heard Street makes three visits per semester to the Concepts in Biology lab section, where students in Assumption’s education concentration teach them science lessons.