Drs. Kathleen Tate and Octavia Tripp are gearing up for the second annual TNT Interdisciplinary Summer Science for Girls to be held at Auburn University June 7-12.

Tate and Tripp, both assistant professors in the AU College of Education's Department of Curriculum and Teaching, formed a partnership last year with a common goal—increasing elementary and middle school girls' interest in science while incorporating language arts, social studies, math, creative drama and the visual arts.

"This is the second phase of our grant where we looked at following a group of girls for three summers with various activities taking place during the school year to enhance the knowledge they gain each summer," Tripp said. "We have the same returning girls, who will now be entering fifth, sixth and seventh grades. We have followed their experiences—talked to parents to see if they noticed any differences—whether or not they have seen an increased interest in science or increased interest in any problem-solving activities and how are they feeling about themselves."

Last summer, the group of campers—all from Tuskegee area schools—participated in a week-long hands-on camp focused on aeronautics and rocketry. In keeping with the theme, this year's camp has a space sciences focus with an emphasis on Mars, telescopes, astronomy and careers in space science.

In preparation for this summer's science camp, Tate and Tripp have hosted three workshops for five in-service teachers from Tuskegee and 10 pre-service teachers from Auburn.

The first workshop met at Tuskegee Institute Middle School and Tony Docal, a contractor from Georgia Tech, did a presentation on basic astronomy. The participants did activities outside, including studying craters and how their impact affects the moon and the planets, Tripp said.

Tate and Tripp presented the second workshop which focused more on classroom activities that the pre-service teachers will be teaching the girls this summer. It also gave the in-service teachers the opportunity to enhance their curriculum by learning to integrate all subjects, or content areas, with science.

The third workshop was presented by a science practitioner from Western Kentucky University, Rico Tyler. He showed the pre-service and in-service teachers how to construct a fully functioning telescope from inexpensive materials such as PVC pipe, duct tape, lens and eye pieces.

"The in-service teachers were then able to have their own model to take with them and actually use it in the classroom to help get the enthusiasm and interest up among the girls. The pre-service teachers had the opportunity to make their own telescopes because they will be teaching the girls how to do it this summer," Tripp said. "All of the girls will be leaving the camp with a fully functioning telescope where they will be able to see the moon, Venus and Saturn."

In addition to the space sciences and integrating the arts and other subjects into the lesson plans created by the pre-service teachers, this year's camp has a technology twist.

"There's a big focus on technology this time. Some of the older girls will get to go with Dr. Tripp to the physics lab and do Lego robotics with Dr. Marlin Simon," Tate said. "The younger girls will be with me in the technology lab in the Learning Resources Center developing a Web site for TNT, creating Power Point presentations, and scanning in pictures from camp to demonstrate what they are learning."

The last day of the camp, the girls will make presentations to family and friends using technology to showcase what they learned; including a slide show of digital images they took documenting their experiences throughout the week. They will also be performing an original song they will compose as a group that again reinforces what they learned at the camp.

"We know from following the girls' experiences this year that last summer's camp made a positive impact. We have seen an increase in school participation, an increase in an interest in science, an increase in building relationships—some of the girls who weren't that social before are now talking more in class and have built friendships with the girls they attended camp with so they spend a lot of time on the phone—and an increase in discipline, meaning they take their school work more seriously," Tate said.

The funding for the workshops and the camp was provided by a $10,000 grant from Southeast Region Clearinghouse (SERCH) and the AU College of Education.