With activities ranging from fertilizing mice to observing surgery, an innovative new education program is immersing Chicago high school girls in the excitement of medical careers. As part of a major oncofertility project at Northwestern, the girls are exploring the medical field of oncofertility, which seeks to ensure the fertility of young women with cancer.The Oncofertility Saturday Academy is sponsored by the Office of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Partnerships (OSEP), which was initiated by the School of Education and Social Policy. The Center for Reproductive Science is supporting OSEP in its partnership with the Oncofertility Consortium to offer workshops in Illinois, Oregon and California. One overriding goal is to encourage future generations of oncofertility specialists.
Scientific research, laboratory and health care experiences highlighted the three sessions in February for 27 junior and senior girls from the Young Women's Leadership Charter School of Chicago. In labs on the Evanston campus, junior girls in the first year of the program studied reproductive anatomy, isolating eggs and fertilizing animals. Working with faculty from Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, senior girls focused on human fertility and concluded with observing a surgery, ultrasound exam and video of a live birth. They explored topics including science careers, cryopreservation of human sperm and eggs, the ethics of storing embryos and working with human subjects.
The new Saturday Academy is encouraging high school girls' interest in oncology careers.
Photo by Andrew Campbell
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SESP has developed a faculty and graduate student exchange program with the Sorbonne around the Learning Sciences Program. Scholars from both SESP and the Sorbonne will collaborate on advancing research and teaching.
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Daphne Whitington (MS00), a graduate of the Master of Science in Education Program, was taken by surprise in October when she won a $25,000 Milken Educator Award for her innovative teaching. An English teacher at Las Casas Occupational High School on Chicago's South Side, Whitington had no knowledge of being nominated for the national award, which recognizes educators who are furthering excellence. A few months later, after a nationwide search, the Oprah Foundation selected Whitington to work at Oprah's Leadership Academy in South Africa as a curriculum consultant and reading specialist. The innovative methods Whitington has used with her students - many of whom have brain injuries or emotional disabilities - include developing an English curriculum integrating hip hop, personal narrative and audio production. At Northwestern, she credits SESP professor Carol Lee as being her "most profound influence" and being instrumental in helping her apply theory to practice.
Photo: Teacher Daphne Whitington, (center), celebrates with some of her students after she was introduced as the surprise winner of the $25,000 Milken National Educator award.
(Photo by Keith Hales courtesy of Chicago Sun-Times)
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SESP has added four new members to its Board of Advisors. They are Julie M. Danis (BS77), Peter Lehman (BS98), Brian B. Musso (BS98), Patricia Walton Silver (BS68) and Richard Woldenberg.
Danis is a strategic marketing professional who held executive positions at major advertising agencies while Lehman is a co-founder and managing partner of Granite Creek Partners, LLC, a Chicago-based private asset manager. Musso is a co-founder of Musso Capital Management, LLC, a private investment firm. Silver is a civic leader and former educator in both public and private education as well as the corporate world. Woldenberg is chairman of Learning Resources, Inc. and a Northwestern parent.
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The Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (MPES), funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, has added a new cohort as it continues to train talented young scholars for rigorous education research. Drawing from multiple disciplines, the newest cohort includes (from left) Cassie Hart, Beth Tipton, Hisham Petry, Dani Petrie, Leigh Mesler and Scott Richman. The 23 fellows in the MPES program, which began in 2004, have authored 24 publications and given 70 conference presentations.
Photo by Mark Swindle
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A nationwide conference on May 1, "Teacher Quality: Broadening and Deepening the Debate," funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, will examine the research on teacher quality and explore promising new lines of inquiry on the topic. Panel discussions, led by noted scholars from across the country, will address the important issues of teacher effects, teaching effects, teacher labor markets and policy options.
An earlier two-day conference in January, funded by the Spencer Foundation, brought together leading scholars nationwide in mathematics teacher education. "Characterizing the Nature and Development of Mathematics Teachers' Noticing" set a research agenda on the topic of "teacher noticing," which relates to a teacher recognizing meaningful patterns in the classroom. Associate professor Miriam Sherin, who co-organized the conference, describes teacher noticing as "a transformative idea" that could change the landscape of research on teacher education.
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Because recent research shows that high-achieving, low-income students "fall out" of the high achievement tracks, SESP's Center for Talent Development (CTD) has developed a new project targeting 120 gifted low- and moderate-income students. Project BLAST aims to boost students' success through academic enrichment as well as sustained peer, parental and school support.
Four school districts are currently participating in Project BLAST, which stands for "Building, Learning, Achieving, Succeeding Today." They are Evanston School District 65, Aurora School District 129, Antioch School District 34 and Woodlands School District in Gurnee.
CTD director Paula Olszewski-Kubilius says, "It just isn't the case that gifted children will make it on their own in school. Project BLAST attempts to make sure that young high achievers remain high achievers," Over a three-year period, the children will take classes with other high achievers in CTD's Saturday Enrichment Program, and along with their families and schools they will receive numerous other supports as well.
Project BLAST encourages gifted low-income students in Center for Talent Development enrichment classes including classes called Amazing Human Body and Robotics.
Photos by Andrew Campbell
Since 1982, the nationally recognized Center for Talent Development (CTD) has offered Saturday Enrichment classes for gifted and talented students. The program currently serves more than 2,300 children annually at three different sites in the Chicago area.
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