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The Space Explorers Program connects local, under-represented minority students with the university
research community. By immersing these middle and high school students in the process of doing science,
we hope to increase their interests and abilities in science and math and help them to succeed in high
school and beyond. Graduates of the Space Explorers matriculate in college as science majors at a rate
that is 500% better than is predicted by combined national and Chicago Public Schools statistics.
The Space Explorers Program offers a multi-year, multidimensional commitment from the members of the
Institute. Students participate in weekly hands-on, in-depth laboratory sessions,
residential science institutes at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, visits to research labs, and
enrichment field trips. Occasionally older students are placed as interns in research laboratories.
Perhaps more important than the science content that these experiences offer are the relationships with
Institute researchers that develop, and the thought processes the students see modeled. Our partner,
the Office of Special Programs, recruits students via their deep connections to the community and the
public schools. Participants are selected based on interest and commitment rather than abilities.
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Current Theme: Nature of Light
Instructor: Robert Freedman
Weekly laboratory sessions are taught on campus in the Kersten Physics Teaching Center. Studies indicate
that campus visits are one of the most influential factors in college election and selection. In addition
to having a positive effect on the students, their visible presence on campus also influences attitudes and
expectations of the larger research community. Long, two-hour laboratory sessions and the possibility of
exploring a topic for extended periods from a month to a year facilitate student-directed inquiry
instruction.
The resources, lack of time constraints, and lack of external requirements mean that students
have the freedom to explore. These inquiry sessions are designed and taught by an Institute graduate
student with guidance from the KICP's Director of Education and Outreach. This is a powerful and enriching
experience for a young researcher. It naturally builds communication and teaching skills but it also
develops more advanced pedagogical skills as the graduate student chooses and develops the curriculum.
This is significantly more responsibility than a typical teaching assistantship but also much more
rewarding.
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Yerkes Institute Archive
The Yerkes Winter Institute is held in December between Christmas & New Years.
The Yerkes Summer Institute takes place during a week in August. (See Institute Archive for specific examples.)
The residential programs at Yerkes Observatory are immersion
experiences built around a central them such as "spectroscopy". The institute instructors work hard to
identify interconnections among the laboratories and to identify key concepts. The students cycle through
these thematically interconnected laboratories in small groups.
Nighttime laboratories utilize the resources of the Observatory and provide the participants with a
first-hand experience with research-grade astronomical instrumentation. The students are further divided
into smaller reporting groups which focus on one particular lab. These reporting groups meet multiple
times and extend the lab beyond what their peers have done (e.g., data analysis and additional
experimentation.) They then share their new insights and discoveries with their peers in "jigsaw sessions"
and with their parents, siblings, and other younger students on the last night of the institute.
The institutes offer a unique experience for the inner-city students, and the idyllic rural setting of
Yerkes Observatory provides a contrast to the urban environs of Chicago. The institutes also offer a
unique experience for the instructional staff, which is typically a mix of researchers and educators.
The K-12 teachers involved feel enriched and reinvigorated by the exposure to research science and
scientists, while the researchers gain insights into teaching and possibly a few new ideas for their
undergraduate classes.
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Throughout the year the Space Explorers are meet with members of the KICP research community.
These interactions include informal lunches, tours of ongoing experiments and research seminars.
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When possible space explorers who are in college return to the Institute during summer breaks to work in a
research laboratory. This summer Raven Collins worked on the bolometric detector development under the
guidance of KICP faculty member Stephan Meyer.
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