Cabrini ‘Science’ Squad inspires younger scientists

The Cabrini High School Science Squad, a science outreach program sponsored by the Cabrini High School science department, sparks student interest and curiosity in a variety of science topics.  The Cabrini Science Squad travels to local classrooms with hands-on science lessons and activities for students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grades.

From chemistry and physics to life and environmental sciences, Science Squad lessons are hands-on. Elementary school teachers simply choose a topic from the Science Squad’s menu of lessons – exploring buoyancy and pressure, density, forces, acids and bases, physical and chemical reactions, speed, distance and time measures, DNA extraction, endangered species, genetics, the water cycle, etc. – or request a topic suited to the needs of the class. The Science Squad will come to the teacher’s classroom fully equipped with an engaging activity and all the materials necessary to excite students about science. Teachers also can bring students to Cabrini for a field trip.

Since it was founded in 2014 by Cabrini science department chairwoman Ann Smart, the Science Squad program has helped elementary school science teachers by providing equipment and resources to which they may not otherwise have access and introducing new and exciting activities to their classroom.

The program has conducted 19 presentations at eight schools, reaching more than 500 elementary students.

Most recently, Science Squad members visited St. Benilde School in Metairie to give presentations to the sixth graders on water cycles and to the seventh graders on DNA extraction.

Students from Our Lady of Perpetual Help School also visited Cabrini to learn about chemical reactions.

  “What I absolutely love about the Science Squad is getting younger students excited about science so they will look forward to taking more science courses in the future and maybe even consider a career in science,” Smart said. 

“Science Squad is ‘service learning’ in action because Cabrini students are able to learn the material better when they are teaching it to someone else,” she said. 

To schedule a free lesson or for details, contact Ann Smart at [email protected] or visit www.cabrinighighschool.com/science-squad.