Ochsner has developed a dedicated student/outreach laboratory as an additional resource or training laboratory for schools in our community. The iLab will be available 1-2 days per week this year, and use will expand to 3-4 times per week as the need grows. Patrick F. Taylor Science and Technology Academy’s chemistry class served as our pilot users for the 2008-2009 academic year.
Benefits
- The iLab will allow for the expansion of the STAR Program into a year-long curriculum.
- Science teachers can reserve iLab time for practical learning.
- Schools can use the iLab as an extension to the resources they already offer.
Reach:Teach Program
- iLab staff will train teachers in-house to complete course modules and understand the theory behind them.
- The teacher will give the students a pretest, provided by Academic Outreach, and introduce the module using the prelaboratory curriculum supplement.
- iLab staff will be available to answer questions about the lessons being presented and assist the students with laboratory issues.
- During the summer months, training will take 1 week. During the school year, training will be two modules per day. The teacher will choose one of these modules to complete.
For more information, contact Academic Outreach.
COX Grant Experiment: "Bubble Gum Mystery"
Thanks to the generous gift of $5,000 awarded to Academic Outreach from Cox Charities we were able to extend our iLab outreach efforts to 6 middle schools, 10 total classes, throughout the New Orleans metropolitan area. The forensic experiment, titled "Bubble Gum Mystery," was a classroom science experiment conducted in the iLab with Dr. Jawed Alam, the Outreach scientific director.
Because of the grant award money, this field trip was free of charge to the schools and we were able to accomodate classes as large as 31 students! The experiment taught students how to work with cutting-edge science laboratory equipment, properly measure liquids in a pipette, run DNA samples in gel, and look deeper into mysteries and investigative science.
The six schools benefiting from this exciting opportunity were:
- Meisler Middle School, 7th grade Life Science, Jefferson Parish Public School
- Mary D. Coghill Elementary, 8th grade Science, New Orleans Recovery School District
- St. Edward the Confessor, 7th grade Science, Archdiocese of New Orleans School, Metairie
- Samuel J. Green Charter School, 8th grade Science, First Line Schools Charter School, New Orleans
- Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies, 7th grade Life Science, Jefferson Parish Public School
- Ursuline Academy, 7th grade Integrated Science, Archdiocese of New Orleans School, New Orleans
What are teachers saying?
“The students raved over the experience. They enjoyed the hands on lab activities. Students were surprised that the DNA marker lines were so clear. Students enjoyed the game on DNA. It was a great review for the concepts taught in class. I highly recommend this field trip to other life science or biology teachers." – Leslie Nick, Meisler Middle School
“Your program gave the students the opportunity to see how science really works! The staff did an excellent job. They were kind, informative, helpful, and very supportive. Middle school students can be hard to entertain at times, but they certainly enjoyed this experience!" - Jim Klein, St. Edward the Confessor School