UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 13, Page 8
November 30, 1995
Science education program has new home in Brown Lab

     The Secondary Science Education Program, directed by Kate
Scantlebury, chemistry and biochemistry, has a new home on the third
floor of Brown Laboratory. The suite of rooms includes a state-of-the-
art high school science laboratory and a resource room. Each room has
a large arched window overlooking the Mall.
     The center, which officially opened Oct. 9, serves pre-service
science teachers and in-service science teachers, grades 7-12,
Scantlebury said. There are approximately 34 students enrolled in the
methods course and more than 90 students enrolled in the secondary
science program. The center also is available for in-service teachers
to use.
     The resource room is designed for research and individual
learning. Shelves of books, CD-ROM interactive video discs and high
school science curricula and other materials line the room. World Wide
Web access soon will be available for students, and the room is
equipped with television, interactive video, and computer software for
teaching science at the middle and high school levels.
     A corridor lined with pictures and brief biographies of 37 women
scientists leads to the lab, a prototype for high school labs in the
future. Four hexagonal benches with rounded corners and gas burners
will soon be equipped with microscopes, lasers and other equipment for
teaching biology, chemistry, earth science and physics.
     Another feature of the lab is a 120-gallon tank that will be
converted into a self-contained salt water marsh by Glasgow High
School students and a preservice science teacher in UD's program,
under the direction of graduate student Hepsi Zsoldos and Bob Gross,
who chairs Glasgow's science department. According to Zsoldos, the
microcosm of a Delaware marsh will have two daily tides, a flood zone,
a nontidal zone, and will be planted with native grasses. The exhibit
will be used for science education about the wetlands.
     This project received funding from a UNIDEL Foundation grant.
     More information on the center can be found on the World Wide Web
by accessing http://www.udel.edu/kscantle/ssc.html.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure