Cornell Theory Center Infuses College Discovery Program with Serious Games and Fun Math
July 21, 2005
Ithaca, NY
Contact:
Laura Cima
607.254.8757
Members of the Cornell Theory Center’s (CTC) education team are introducing 12 local fifth-grade students (six from Beverly J. Martin and six from Enfield Elementary School) to a world where games are serious and math, science, and technology are fun. The week-long program includes an Open House at which students will showcase their projects. This program is part of CTC's SciCentr/SciFair outreach activities.
Enrolled in the College Discovery Program (CDP), the students spend half of their five-hour day at CTC in a virtual world on the computer and the other half outside, making connections in the real world. For example, after exploring sundials in a virtual world created with Cornell art professor Barry Perlus (www.jantarmantar.org), students investigated the sundial on Cornell's engineering quad. Students also spent time in virtual worlds created by their counselors, Isaac Robinovitz '05 and Rhea Chakraborty '07, learning about tessellations (mosaic patterns) before scanning the campus for real-life examples. Students then used digital images of Cornell's tessellations to personalize their own virtual worlds.
"CTC's educational outreach program is an excellent complement to the College Discovery Program," said Margaret Corbit, CTC's research outreach manager. "CTC's educational outreach program is all hands-on, all student-centered. We bring the 'mountain to Mohammed' in a virtual world. They dive in and devour the content, all in the name of using the technology."
The College Discovery Program is a long-term, intensive school-based mentoring program designed to reduce school achievement gaps and increase access to a college education for Ithaca City School District low-income and minority students — two groups that have historical patterns of underachievement in the Ithaca City Schools and nationwide.
Statistics from the New York State Education Department for the Ithaca High School Class of 2002 show that while 87% of Ithaca High School students who were not economically disadvantaged graduated on time, only 49% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch did the same.1 While the overall graduation rate was 84%, only 54% of African-American students graduated on time. African American and Latino students are underrepresented in honors and advanced placement classes at Ithaca High School (12. 9%) compared to White students (52.1 %).2
"The College Discovery Program has all the hallmarks of a program that can make a real difference in a young person's life," said Gary Stewart, assistant director of community relations for Cornell University. "The statistics documenting the need for this initiative are sobering, and it will take highly coordinated, collaborative efforts to affect positive change. Cornell is pleased to be part of a team to meet that end."
The program will focus on both the academic and social needs of youth and create a culture of achievement for students in grades 5 through 8. In addition, the program will work to eliminate barriers that exist in the school setting, improve the school climate for all students, and train parents and caregivers to effectively advocate for their children.
All students served by this program will be from groups that are currently underrepresented in honors and advanced placement classes at Ithaca High School. These students are primarily African-American, Latino, or from refugee or low-income families. The preventative program will identify students at an early age who show academic potential, but face barriers to successfully earning a high school and college education, with the intention of changing the demographics of the regents, honors, and advanced placement classes in the Ithaca High School. Currently, students are participating in the summer academy, designed to feature hands-on activities aligned with school curriculum, career exploration activities, and recreation.
1New York State Education Department New York State School Report Card Report, February 2004
2A Retrospective Study of the Impact of Race and Class on the Academic Success at Ithaca High School, Barr and Brock, January 2000
About the Cornell Theory Center
CTC is an interdisciplinary research center at Cornell University focused on providing cyberinfrastructure resources for research and education; these resources include high-performance and data-intensive computing hardware and expertise, visualization, and K-12 outreach. Scientific and engineering projects supported by CTC represent a wide variety of disciplines, including bioinformatics, behavioral and social sciences, computer science, engineering, geosciences, mathematics, physical sciences, and business.
