More Info - Outreach Programs

UPRM Outreach Education P-12 Programs

Brief description of program that impact education & URL of web page

Participants Totals

P-12 Students

Teachers

UPRM Students / Future Teachers

CRUISE- University Resource Center for Research and Educational Services, an information and dissemination center and base of operations to collaborative education projects inside and outside the UPRM campus. It houses educational research projects, action research, service to the education community and professional development of teachers in pre-service, in-service teachers and P-20 students. These projects are aimed to implement cutting-edge research to specific situations of the dynamics of teaching – learning, and  Passessment to improve teaching strategies from elementary school through graduate school. It has worked since 2002 with a total budget of approximately $ 3,500,000.00 in external funds in more than 15 initiatives. http://uprm.edu/cruise AFoMAR was the biggest project to date http://uprm.edu/p/cruise/pagina_principal_aformar

More than 10,000

More than 400

More than 200

mNET- mNET(Mobilizing National Educator Talent) is an innovative, nontraditional national teacher preparation program designed to help individuals attain full state certification as core academic teachers in high need, hard-to-staff school districts. mNET teachers serve for at least three years in either a P-12 public school district or an independent or charter school in one of 14 partner locations: Kansas, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia. http://uprm.edu/p/cruise/pagina_principal_mnet

--

--

30

Teacher Web Tools- A portal that has a collection of 247 lessons, activities, materials and educational tools plans made and proven successful in the classroom created by teachers to be used by teachers, aligned to the standards and expectations of grades K-12 and other official documents in the four core subjects of the Puerto Rico Department of Education. http://www.upr.edu/twt/

--

16

4

PAEMST- The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) are the nation's highest honors for teachers of mathematics and science (including computer science). Awardees serve as models for their colleagues, inspiration to their communities, and leaders in the improvement of mathematics and science education. Since 1983 to 2016, PR had 80 awardees. http://uprm.edu/p/cruise/descripcion_de_paemst

--

80

--

Future Scientists Program–The goal of USDA’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions National Program (HSINP) Future Scientists Program is to enhance the scientific knowledge of teachers, helping them to become more effective in encouraging student interest and progress in science. Teachers in the program attend two-day summer institutes at the Tropical Agricultural Research Service (TARS) labs, where scientists introduce them to various research projects. TARS researchers share scientific knowledge with the teachers, who then share it with their students to encourage them to become future scientists http://uprm.edu/p/cruise/futuros_cientificos

http://blogs.usda.gov/2016/06/14/students-intrigued-enough-to-worm-their-way-into-ag-science/

4,500

45

2

CREAD - Since August 2016 the Distance Education Resource Center have as its primary functions provide professors, instructors, teacher candidates (TPP) and students in general, access to resources for the development of digital educational materials for the classroom, hybrid and distance courses, and encourage effective teaching in these two modalities. http://cread9.wixsite.com/creaduprm(official web page under construction)

--

--

16

4H Clubs- Youth development is a mayor emphasis area of 4-H and its Youth Development Program. It is designed to provide youth with positive opportunities to learn and interact with peers and adults, provide leadership development, and focus on the enhancement of life skills  through research-based educational programs focusing on healthy lifestyles; science, engineering and technology; citizenship and leadership.  Hands on activities and teen as teacher’s educational strategies have been the best approach to deliver our program areas (Non-formal education).  We offer in-service learning experiences to provide youngsters the opportunity to reflect on and take action concerning issues that impact them. Through 4-H the youngsters acquire and develop life skills in order to identify the most important issues, within a real world situation. With the support of adult mentors (volunteers) and Extension educators we served all 78 municipalities in PR. http://www.uprm.edu/p/sea/juventudes_y_clubes_4-h

7,455

---

---

CETARS K-6 Activities – The Center for Education and Training in Agriculture and Related Sciences provided outreach activities for K-6 Students since 2011 to promote education and training in the areas of agricultural science. The UPRM undergraduates visited schools once a week to organize lectures and workshops in topics related to agriculture. A vegetable garden was constructed and managed in the 38 schools involved. Field trips to agricultural farms are organized to participate in hands-on workshops in agricultural areas. Agricultural education teachers received a one day workshop. 

1,287

More than 40

20

FELEP – The Fostering Experimental Learning to Establish a Pipeline from K-12 to graduate provided outreach activities in school and summer activities for teachers and students. The goals were: 1) To strengthen collaboration between UPRM and local public elementary schools. 2) Increase agricultural knowledge of elementary school students through the use of lectures and workshops. 3) Promote elementary school faculty involvement in agricultural activities through on-campus lectures and workshops.

1,287

More than 40

20

Centro Universitario para el Acceso(CUA)– The goal of The Center for University Access is to carry out academic research and outreach activities that address the relationship between socioeconomic inequality and educational inequality, and to increase the proportion of low-income students who apply, are admitted, and ultimately graduate from the publicand private higher education system in Puerto Rico. The Center’s activities are conducted under two main areas of research and outreach. Research is carried out through mixed methods projects conducted by faculty across campus. Under various components of the outreach area, 7th through 12th grade students from the surrounding housing projects receive support to prepare for and apply to the units of the UPR system, other private universities, and to short careers institutes.  http://blogs.uprm.edu/cuacceso/

230

1

49

AFAMaC Sciences-The Alliance for the Strengthening of Mathematics and Science Learning is a collaborative partnership between UPRM, the PR Department of Education and schools from districts in the western part of PR, funded under the Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) program of the Federal Department of Education. It provides intensive, content based professional development to 4^th – 12^th science teachers in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Physics. The goal is to improve science instruction in the classroom and science learning and understanding by students. http://afamacciencias.blogspot.com  

--

40 to 60 per year

(8 years)

10

AFAMaC Mathematics- The Alliance for the Strengthen of Mathematics and Science Partnership (AFAMaC) is a federal grant program that funds collaborative partnerships between UPRM, high need school districts of the western part or Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Department of Education. AFAMaC provides intensive, content-rich professional development to mathematics teachers of the school districts of the western part of Puerto Rico with the goal of improving classroom instruction and, ultimately, student achievement in mathematics.  AFAMaC has received over 11 million dollars for the last 12 years http://afamac.uprm.edu

--

More than 300

More than 100

Mathematics Olympiad Program (OMPR) - The main goal of the Puerto Rico Mathematics Olympiad Program (OMPR) is to identify math talented students from schools in Puerto Rico and to provide them with extracurricular experiences. During the last sixteen years this program has impacted directly more than 5000 thousands of students each year. OMPR has also the goal to stimulate enthusiasm and love for mathematics in all schools in Puerto Rico. Activities include local and international math Olympiads, sabbatical academies, summer camps and publications. http://www.ompr.pr

5000 / year for 16 years

More than 100 each year/12 years

10 students /year for 16 years

Physics Olimpiads- The goal of this Project is to raise the interest and level of proficiency in Physics for High School students (mainly students from 10 to12 grades). Throughout the project, we invite students from different schools of the Island and test them on Physics problems. Those students who receive a higher score will then receive systematic training in High School and Basic College Physics. The training will mainly consist of theoretical subjects. However, they will also be exposed to experimental training. Finally, those students who show more versatility (usually 1-3 students) will participate in the Iberoamerican Olympiads, the International Olympiads and, lastly, in Centroamerican and Caribean Olympiads. We have been working on this project since 2006. During the past ten years we have participated in 8 International Olympiads, 6 Iberoamerican Olympiads and 1 Centroamerican and Caribean Olympiad.  The students we have prepared who finally represented Puerto Rico, have earned both silver and bronze medals, and honorific mentions in several of these events.

60-80

---

2

QuarkNetis an educational program designed to support science education in high schools by establishing a nationwide teacher network. The main goal of the program is to introduce teachers and students to modern research in the field of particle physics. Physics Teachers, students and Particle Physicists explore together frontline physics at QuarkNet Centers located at local Universities where a mentor relationship with University Professors is established. QuarkNet Puerto Rico center started in 2003 and ispresently composed by High School teachers from all over the island. This is the only group of this kind in the Caribbean.

http://charma.uprm.edu/cms/outreach/outreach.html   https://quarknet.i2u2.org/group/uprm-quarknet-center

More than 300

More than 100

----

AVIRMATproject aims to provide: (1) The students of RUM, a virtual space to enhance learning in mathematics courses,(2) graduates students of the program in mathematics education, experience to explain and present  clear and effective mathematical concepts and (3) professors and teachers, an additional tool that will support the preparation of math courses. This includes videos explaining exercises assigned in the syllabus of mathematics courses. The videos are created by graduate students of the Masters Program at Secondary Level Teaching Mathematics Department of Mathematical Sciences. The page to access the videos Precalculus http://quiz.uprm.edu/avirmat/cursos/precalculo1/

--

--

8 future teachers created the videos.

Mayawest Writing Project(MWWP)- affiliated to the National Writing Project (NWP), the MWWP is the only Writing Project Site on the Island. The project serves K-16 teachers and student population from Ponce to Arecibo. The project serves local teachers with professional development workshops and institutes in which we focus on integrating the teaching of writing at all levels. It is based on these core values:

·         Writing is critical to learning across all disciplines and grade levels.

·         Working as partners, universities and schools can improve student writing.

·         Teachers are the best teachers of teachers.

·         When teachers are given time to write and reflect on their writing, their practice is enhanced.

·         Teachers are leaders and agents of change

The project follows the NWP model of teachers teaching teachers. The program has three integral components: a summer institute for teachers, monthly continuity meetings and professional development in local schools. The project has two summer camps for students from grades 7-12. The project also has an annual conference called Open Institute which is open to the entire teaching community.

557

244

4,122

SONW - The Science on Wheels Peer Mentoring Educational Center (SONW) was established in 1991 at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM).  For the last 25 years, professors, as well as graduate and undergraduate level students have been inspiring K-12 students to pursue STEM careers, and transforming the way that K-12 teachers approach STEM learning. Today the Center activities are coherently integrated to CIVIS.   In Puerto Rico, the majority of students is both Hispanic and economically challenged.  Our approach is based on the Expository Peer Mentoring Model, transferring STEM knowledge and skills through exposure to hands-on scientific experimentation, and enhancement of critical thinking, language and other soft skills.  This pipeline becomes an exponential tool in enhancing STEM knowledge and skills in this population. Overall, 376 Hispanic university fellows (247 graduates and 129 undergraduates) have provided general, specific and integrated STEM interventions to 3,334 Hispanic teachers and 145,290 Hispanic  pre-college students.  Since the inception of the program, the ratio of STEM enrolled students at UPRM, who have directly interacted with SONW, has been consistently higher than those who did not participate in the program.   The Science on Wheels Peer Mentoring Educational Center is addressing the educational achievement gap for Hispanic students,  through a pipeline of STEM General, Specific and Integrated Interventions that integrate mentoring with learned multidisciplinary teaching skills to solve STEM problems. The integration of graduates and  undergraduates students as well as junior faculty collaborated with SONW staff to integrate educational components into their proposal research inquiry assure to facilitate STEM information, knowledge and skills requirements to enter at the university in Puerto Rico or other university to students.  The Center was the pioneer in 1991 to establish in Puerto Rico the role of university students as role model is key as the success of the initiative to increase the number of Hispanic students that pursues universities careers. Under these circumstances. Total funding for the several interventions from 1991 to today has been more than $10,000,000. To national awards are meritorious to mention for the peer mentoring implementation in Puerto Rico: (1)  2000 USA Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) and (2)2015 White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

145,290

3,334

More that 20

Nanotechnology Center for Biomedical, Environmental and Sustainability Applications CREST – UPRM. With a total investment of $9.2 millions, this is the largest NSF-funded endeavor at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. The Nanotechnology Center encompasses three interdisciplinary research groups and an educational one intended to impact Hispanics' education from intermediate school to the faculty level. As part of this large Center, a strategy involving 18 Materials Science and Engineering clubs was established in public schools in Western Puerto Rico. The income of those households served situate them mostly below the poverty line (from 50% through 99.7%). The level of success of the clubs is highlighted by the number of members who have been admitted into UPRM and other universities. Some high school clubs have had 75% of the graduated classes admitted at UPRM. This highly competitive cadre of undergraduates in most cases join the Center's team where they are trained in state-of-the-art nanotechnology laboratories and groups.
crest2.uprm.edu www.facebook.com/UPRM.CREST

600

20

100

R²DEEP -The Recruitment, Retention and Distance Engineering Education Project (R²DEEP) has as goals: a) Impacting recruitment practices to bring talented students to the College of Engineering, b) Improving the college readiness of incoming students by impacting both high-school (HS) students a teachers c) Improving college retention and graduation rates. R²DEEP combines multiple strategies that include dual-enrollment opportunities for HS students, continuous education opportunities in math and engineering subjects for HS teachers, and engineering learning communities for first and second year engineering students. Program information and contact at http://engineering.uprm.edu/r2deep/

146

12

312

CAAMp Abilities–is a one-week educational sports camp for children and teens who are blind, and visually impaired. The camp is set up to provide a one-on-one instructional situation for each person, which is often on the contrary to other camps designed for people with visual impairments.  Our counselors are pooled from physical education and other disciplines across campus. We have had counselors from outside the Island including United States and Costa Rica.  Since our first summer in 2005, we have had more than 40 counselors per summer, and we have trained more than 400 future teachers in the area of sport and recreation for children with sensory impairments. http://www.uprm.edu/caampabilities

275

20

400

Acceso al Éxitois an initiative that has developed the UPR Vice President of Student Affairs since 2008. It is sponsored by the College Access Challenge Grant Program (CACGP) of the United States Department of Education and the University of Puerto Rico, in collaboration with the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. It aims to increase the number of students pursuing post-secondary studies, especially those of low economic status. Recent studies show the importance of having high expectations for these students to achieve success in their studies. Consequently, the project encourages students to strengthen their college aspirations and academic performance. One way to achieve this goal is to support them to discover their talents, know the alternatives offered by universities studies to develop these talents and be motivated to continue studies after completion of the senior year of high school.

Overall the project has worked on the following components during the last seven years:

1. Internet portal, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Objective: To provide information to students and families about the benefits of postsecondary education, opportunities for career planning, and on academic offerings and financing options exito.upr.edu.

2. National Open House Tour of UPR

Objective: To provide information to students and families about UPR academic offerings and financing options. Acceso el Éxito financially supports and participates in the open houses of the eleven campuses of the UPR system.

3. Te ayudamos a completer la solicitud de beca FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)

Objective: A group of financial aid officers at each campus, assists students to complete the FAFSA during a specific day of the year after April 15th, and during visits to schools.

4. Roadmap to College kit (exito.upr.edu/docs/SigueelCaminoalExito web.pdf)

Objective: This is a tool available in printing and online (exito.upr.edu/docs/SigueelCaminoalExito web.pdf) to promote among students the need to plan, beginning on seventh grade, his or her route to college. The roadmap presents the courses that a student must take in each grade, in order to be successful at the university. The map also recommends extracurricular activities as: summer camps and professional clubs that will help the student to be better prepare for his or her college experience.

See tables below

--

--