Gomez Lab Educational Outreach
Our laboratory was actively engaged in educational outreach activities to local elementary schools. The lab students did this on their own accord, on a purely voluntary basis, and did not get credit for extracurricular service hours.
Since science is a human endeavor, an important part of science is building relationships with others, while engaging them in the process, the passion, and the excitement of scientific discovery. Following our initial efforts, we established a program called SynAPSE, a program housed in the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office and the Office of Community Relations.
The activities typically included hands-on demonstrations and a lot of interaction with the elementary school students. We also invited other Scranton students from different research labs or courses to join us.
I established the Synergistic Activity Program for Science Education (SynAPSE) for the University of Scranton research students to conduct learning activities at a local Scranton elementary school. The name derives from biological systems, where synapses (especially between nerve cells) allow individual cells to interact, communicate, and influence both their growth and survival; learning and memory formation involve the growth and long-term maintenance of synapses. The program focuses on research students from the College of Arts and Sciences who are in STEM research laboratories .Educational science engagement involves meaningful and intentional interactions that promote mutual learning between research students and members of the public, not just scientific knowledge, but also to the breadth of
social practices, perspectives and world views. Public engagement can provide a constructive framework for personal outlooks to be integrated with scientific expertise in decision-making contexts. Scientists can expand the reach of their inquiry, and make it more relevant to society.
