Summer science for girls in a two week residential summer science enrichment program for girls entering the ninth grade. The program will be conducted by The University of Michigan Women in Science Program of the Center for the Continuing Education of Women in collaboration School of Natural Resources, the College of Engineering, and the UM Information Technology Division. Students will select a focus project in one of three areas: chemistry, engineering or natural resources. In the second year, a forth focus project area in physics will be added. Students will spend two hours each morning in a discussion group and two hours each afternoon in corresponding hands-on laboratory project in their focus areas. Students will be introduced to the concepts of the scientific research methodology during orientation and these concepts will be reinforced and expanded upon during the focus project sessions. They will participate in a computer project daily involving a basic analog to digital converter used to gather data from a simple sensor and convert it to numerical information more suitable for analysis. After gathering data, students will use common graphics programs to graph the data. Participants will be able to take the analog to digital converter back to their school, install it in their science laboratories and instruct others in its use. Students will also participate in a field biology trip, a mathematics program, and a field trip to a science and technology museum. Evening sessions will be devoted to career panels in chemistry, geology, science teaching, engineering, biology, mathematics and physics Students will have an opportunity to talk with women scientists in each area.
