Cleveland 10th graders begin research at Biosphere 2

September 14, 2009

By hammersmith

[Source: Lori Stiles, University of Arizona Communications] — Seventy-eight high school sophomores who are among the first to attend a new, one-of-a-kind STEM-focused school within the Cleveland, Ohio, city school system are conducting research at The University of Arizona Biosphere 2 this week.

The students attend MC2STEM High School, a project-based, year-round, open-enrollment school that emphasizes “STEM” curriculum – science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The innovative high school, now in its second year, is the first Ohio STEM school funded under Ohio House Bill 119, which authorizes financial support and partnerships critical to the development of STEM education. It serves Cleveland Metropolitan School District students who live in the inner city and the first-ring suburbs.

The Ohio-to-Arizona field trip was funded by private donations, which includes support from the Gates Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation and the George Gund Foundation.

“We are excited to have been given the opportunity to host this visionary program,” said Pierre Meystre, director of the B2 Institute. “It fits squarely within the Biosphere 2 mission of addressing the daunting STEM education grand challenge. 

“The work with MC2STEM complements and enriches beautifully other existing and planned programs at the B2 Institute, such as the Arizona Center for STEM Teachers, which is jointly funded by Science Foundation Arizona and the Philecology Foundation,” Meystre said. 

“We expect to learn a great deal from our interaction with MC2STEM, including possible ways to implement similar programs in Arizona in the future.”

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