New Media and Models for Engaging Under-Represented Students in Science

We describe the University of Colorado Partnerships for Informal Science Education in die Community (PISEC) program in which university students participate in classroom and after school science activities with local precollege children, Across several different formal and informal educational environments, we use new technological tools, such as stop action motion (SAM) movies [1] to engage children so that they may develop an understanding of science through play and "show and tell". This approach provides a complementary avenue for reaching children who are otherwise underrepresented in science and under-supported in more formal educational settings. We present the model of university community, partnership and demonstrate its utility in a case study involving an African American third grade student learning about velocity and acceleration.