{"334861":{"#nid":"334861","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Biologist Opens the Discover Science Center","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBy Hannah Ackermann\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech scientists aren\u2019t content with just making discoveries, they want to contribute to the community as well. That\u2019s why this summer, Tonya Shearer, research scientist in the School of Biology, opened the Discover Science Center (DSC), a science enrichment lab serving the metro-Atlanta area.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTeachers have a lot of topics to cover in class, and sometimes science gets left behind,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShearer encourages the enthusiasm kids have for the sciences and hopes to educate the new generation in the arts and sciences with an engaging approach to learning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cKids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for,\u201d said Shearer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERachel Whitmire, undergraduate student in the School of Biology and assistant at the DSC, said the kids are fascinated with the subject matter as the new facts they learn alter their perceptions of life around them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese kids bring such a wealth of knowledge. It is fun watching their opinions change,\u201d said Whitmire.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe DSC also provides opportunities for teacher development, an important issue in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany teachers don\u2019t even know how to use their classroom microscopes,\u201d explained Shearer. \u201cThey can learn this skill and many more at the Discover Science Center.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne important aspect of Shearer\u2019s curriculum is the integration of art and science. For example, during Invertebrate Week the kids learned about how these organisms eat and reproduce. Then they made biology-inspired creative projects. They took what they learned about the adaptations and feeding mechanisms of invertebrates and created their own organism artifacts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the after-school programs, children learned about topics including fish, invertebrates, alien life, sea turtles, marine mammals and sharks. In the future, Shearer hopes to expand her programs to include other fields of science, such as physics and chemistry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe DSC\u2019s tanks house organisms including coral, anemones, crabs, sea stars, worms and live rocks. Shearer intends to enrich science education with marine biology. Because many of the topics in this field are globally relevant, it is easy to get the kids interested, said Whitmire. It also doesn\u2019t hurt that kids love animals, she added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBecause it is outside of the school, the DSC has an informal learning environment. Kids not only learn about science, but also about the types of careers they can have in science. Whitmire is hopeful that these kids will want to get involved with research when they get older.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShearer is in the process of training 14 teachers to teach this material to kids in classrooms all around Atlanta to expand the reach of the program. The DSC also offers home school classes and tutoring programs, as well as internships for high school and college students. These students will help to develop future programs for the kids, and cultivate a community lab for adult learning. The Discovery Science Center is a for-profit business located in Roswell, GA.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech scientists aren\u2019t content with just making discoveries, they want to contribute to the community as well. That\u2019s why this summer, Tonya Shearer, research scientist in the School of Biology, opened the Discover Science Center (DSC), a science enrichment lab serving the metro-Atlanta area.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech scientists aren\u2019t content with just making discoveries, they want to contribute to the community as well."}],"uid":"27245","created_gmt":"2014-10-17 07:00:59","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:19","author":"Troy Hilley","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"334851":{"id":"334851","type":"image","title":"Tonya Shearer with students this summer","body":null,"created":"1449245150","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:50","changed":"1475895046","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:46","alt":"Tonya Shearer with students this summer","file":{"fid":"200468","name":"girls_3_discover_sci_ctr.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/girls_3_discover_sci_ctr_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/girls_3_discover_sci_ctr_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":203150,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/girls_3_discover_sci_ctr_0.jpg?itok=jVEorFRJ"}}},"media_ids":["334851"],"groups":[{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"106671","name":"Tonya Shearer"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}