iEducate USA Encourages Math and Science Education in Series of Summer Programs at Crockett Elementary

Students studying electrical circuits with Sneha Raju, a UT graduate during science lab.

Students studying electrical circuits with Sneha Raju, a UT graduate during science lab.

HOUSTON: iEducateUSA, a non-profit organization providing classroom tutors to support math and science programs in HISD elementary schools, celebrated its annual month of education at Crockett Elementary consisting of a 3-day science workshop and a 3-week summer camp that has just been completed. The two programs were designed to help elementary school students of all ages get excited about Science.  The three-day Science workshop held June 2-4, focused on a different topic each day through in-class discussions with subject matter experts and hands-on activities. This year’s workshop and summer camp focused on Earth and Space Science, Physical Science and Life Science in an effort to encourage students to pursue these subjects in school and in their future careers. The summer camp held on June 9-26 also included a brand new class on computer programming to enhance student’s skills in computer literacy. The students learned new software games and application through the Scratch programming language.

The programs were supported by volunteers from the University of Houston Downtown, Schlumberger, Baylor College of Medicine, and NASA in addition to the dedicated teachers of Crockett Elementary. Schlumberger also exhibited their impressive science demo unit and donated books on “I want to be an Engineer” to each of the participating students.

On the last days of the programs the students participated in a poignant celebration, a computer workshop where students wrote letters to loved ones, and a presentation from students about what they had learned. From the Hubble Telescope to double helixes to kinetic energy, each student demonstrated a renewed interest in math and science.

All of this is a continuation of iEducateUSA’s powerful work at Crockett over the past year. The program identifies motivated undergraduate students to work alongside HISD teachers as in-class tutors providing one-on-one support to struggling students. With the assistance of iEducate USA’s dedicated tutors and volunteers, Crockett Elementary saw a dramatic improvement in both Math and Science test scores on standardized tests, including the widely scrutinized STAAR test. The school principal Chavez reported a dramatic increase in the number of students meeting standard on the math portion of the STAAR test, moving the needle from 64% the previous years in math to 94% in 2014.

For further information  visit www.ieducateusa.org