Fall 2020

Status: Active

We hope to work with teachers to find out what works best for them in a virtual environment. We are still planning on organizing virtual classroom visits to be held regularly until the end of this semester. However, we will be corresponding with teachers and seeing what works best for them. We are still reassessing how an event like science day can be done.

PBHA’s ExperiMentors is a science education, mentorship, and outreach program. Through weekly in-classroom engagement, volunteers in the ExperiMentors program teach science lessons to Cambridge public school children in kindergarten through eighth grade, emphasizing hands-on learning, the scientific method, and questioning and discovery.

In addition to weekly in-school lessons, ExperiMentors hosts Science Day, a semi-annual science outreach conference open to students in schools across Cambridge. Held on Harvard’s campus, the event brings together students and community members for a day of interactive activities, presentations, and tours led by Harvard faculty, staff, and students.

Why ExperiMentors?

ExperiMentors strives to:

• enrich the existing public school science curriculum through the exploration of science topics using hands-on activities.
• introduce problem-solving skills, cooperative learning, the scientific method, and critical thinking to elementary school children.
• make science exciting appealing to elementary school students, particularly those who otherwise might not consider pursuing science in their education.
• encourage all children to appreciate the role of science and technology in society.
• provide an opportunity for Harvard undergraduates who are interested in science and education to gain first-hand experience planning lessons and working in a classroom environment

Volunteer with ExperiMentors

In addition to increasing the availability of engaging science-based programming in Cambridge Public Schools, ExperiMentors provides student volunteers the opportunity to gain skills in teaching, exercise their creativity in developing lesson plans, and combine academic interests with community service.

ExperiMentors volunteers work in pairs to develop a curriculum and teach weekly classes during school hours. Volunteers are encouraged to work with teachers and students to design engaging lesson plans that will excite students and complement classroom work.

For more information about ExperiMentors, visit the program website and this blog website for examples of experiments.