GK-12 Reach for the Stars

Computational Models for Teaching and Learning in Physics, Astronomy and Computer Science

Category: Education

Madison Fitzpatrick Introduces Computational Modeling Tools to CPS Classroom

Stephanie Sunata, a Medill Journalism student visited the Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center, a CPS high school, to see Reach for the Stars in action. She came to watch graduate fellow Madison Fitzpatrick (PhD candidate, Civil Engineering) introduce computational modeling tools to Aimee Karagiannis‘ environmental science class.

Graduate Student Speaker Series nears capacity for 2015 programing

The Graduate Student Speaker Series. (GS3) has a few remaining openings for presentations at local high school science departments. Please contact Michelle Paulsen (m-paulsen@northwestern.edu) to schedule an event.

New Program ‘The Graduate Student Speaker Series’ (GS3) Launches


The Graduate Student Speaker Series (GS3) is a newly-launched program that has been created as an extension of two Northwestern programs: Reach for the Stars and Ready, Set, Go.

In this program, Northwestern Ph.D. candidates visit local high schools to present their cutting-edge research to small groups of STEM teachers, answer questions, and discuss ways to incorporate the research content into the high-school classroom. GS3 hosted a kick-off event at Maine East High School on February 6th. All high school STEM teachers were encouraged to join to learn about the exciting research being done at Northwestern across many STEM disciplines.

Michelle Paulsen, Ami LeFevre contribute to writing of “The Power of Partnerships: A Guide from the NSF GK-12 Program”

Reach for the Stars participants Michelle Paulsen (Program Director) and Ami LeFevre contributed to the writing of “The Power of Partnerships: A Guide from the NSF GK-12 Program”. This guide, compiled by the National Science Foundation, provides effective practices for creating STEM based projects and programs. K-12 teachers and administrators will be able to turn to this guide as a reference point for creating their own GK-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs.

The National Science Foundation gathers information from across the country to capture the knowledge and experiences from more than 10,000 graduate students, 1,000 principal investigators (university faculty), 300 project evaluators, and 12,000 K–12 teachers.

Michelle Paulsen co-authored Chapter 9, entitled “Evaluating Projects”. Ami LeFevre contributed to Chapter 3, entitled “Effective Recruitment and Selection Strategies for GK-12 Fellows and Teachers”. Additionally, a featured item on Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s visit to Northwestern’s appears in Chapter 10.

The complete guide is available online.

Michelle Paulsen, Kristin Labby Give Talks at 2013 American Chemical Society Meeting


At this year’s meeting of the American Chemical Society, Michelle Paulsen, program director for Northwestern’s GK12 program, and Kristin Labby, GK12 alumna, gave invited talks.

In Paulsen’s talk, “Reaching for the stars: Forming and maintaining partnerships between universities, schools, and the community”, she highlighted the lessons learned in building connections to local schools, outlined possible expansions of those partnerships, and gave examples of the work done by PhD students in GK12 classrooms as part of Northwestern’s “Reach for the Star” program.

Labby’s talk,“Introducing medicinal chemistry research to middle school students: a multi-faceted approach from a GK-12 experience”, focused on specific examples of her partnership with Pamela Sims, a middle school science teacher in Chicago, and how other institution might adopt such a program.

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OSEP Creates Video of Northwestern Partnership with ETHS

The Office of STEM Education Partnerships (OSEP)  made a video which tells the story of the collaborative partnership between Northwestern University and Evanston Township High School (ETHS).

CIERA and Reach for the Stars are partners with OSEP, bringing the exciting STEM teaching and research being done here at Northwestern to K-12 teachers and students in Evanston and beyond.

You can watch the video by clicking here.

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