Cabrini Science Squad spark student learning

The Cabrini High School Science Squad, a complimentary 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 led by a Cabrini science teacher and team of students. Elementary school teachers simply choose a topic from the Science Squad’s menu of lessons 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.

Or, if teachers prefer, they can bring their class to visit the Science Squad at Cabrini High School for a field trip.

The Science Squad program began as a way for Cabrini High School to help elementary school science teachers by providing equipment and resources they may not otherwise have access to and introducing new and exciting activities to their classroom.

Under the direction of Cabrini Science Department Chair Ann Smart, the Science Squad was founded in 2014.

Since its inception, the program has grown rapidly. During the 2016-17 school year, the Science Squad conducted nine presentations at seven schools, reaching nearly 300 elementary students.

“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.

The Cabrini Science Squad can deliver a wide variety of hands-on lessons that explore 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 and more.

“Bringing the Science Squad into the classroom is a great experience for elementary school teachers and students, but it is also beneficial for Cabrini students to share their classroom knowledge with the younger students. 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,” Smart said.

Contact Smart at [email protected] to schedule the Cabrini Science Squad.