Outreach

This project uses art to teach elementary school students about  plant biology with a focus on bioenergy. With the help of a generous grants from the National Science Foundation and Chevron, Graduate students develop lesson plans and projects in collaboration with UCD faculty and elementary school teachers. In addition to educating elementary school students in an innovative manner, UCD graduate students are learning valuable skills that normally are not emphasized in a more traditional science graduate program. For example, graduate students are learning to relay relatively complex scientific information from their own research experiences into terms that are comprehensible, exciting and fun for 4th, 5th and 6th graders.   Graduate student-teacher partnerships will be enhanced during the lifetime of the project through annual luncheons for project participants  as well as by planning and executing a Picnic day exhibition where graduate students and teachers present the projects to parents, children, UCD educators and administrators.  The Bioenergy in the schools program is led by Dr. Pamela Ronald, a professor of plant pathology and Chair of the PGP, and Ruth Santer, a local artist and art teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School.

These drawings by the 4th and 5th graders at Cesar Chavez are a colorful result of some of the childrens own scientific and artistic explorations.

• Gateways Robbins Hall Art project
  

The goal of the Gateways Robbins Hall Art project is to use art to reflect the academic activities within Robbins Hall (the Plant Genomics Program , the Weed Research and Information Center and the Agricultural Sustainability Institute) and to expose elementary school students and campus visitors to what plant science is all about, how science is done, how discoveries happen and what scientists do. The students worked closely with science teachers, faculty, graduate students and artists Donna Billick and Marc Rivera. At the end of each school year, the students art projects were integrated into a permanent campus exhibitions, as ceramic tiles adorning 5 columns of Robbins Hall describing evolution, Genomics, plant-mcirobe interactions, weeds as well as food and farming.

This project is part of the campus GATEways (Gardens, Art, and The Environment project). One of the goals of the GATEways project is to use art, gardens, exhibits, outdoor teaching spaces, and events to engage the broader community with the work and scholarship of UC Davis.