BEAMS - Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science
Program conducted by: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

Abstract
The BEAMS - Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science - program brings classes of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade at-risk students with their teachers to Jefferson Lab for science and math interactive activities. The goals of BEAMS are to:

• redress the problem that minorities and females are lost from the science, mathematics, engineering and technology career pipeline long before they reach college,
• strengthen the motivation and academic preparation of students, and
• provide teachers with activities based on the science and technology at Jefferson Lab.

Since 1991, BEAMS has involved about 15,000 students and 375 teachers. Students participate in the BEAMS program for three consecutive years. In the 6th grade, students come to Jefferson Lab with their teachers for a specially modified version of their regular academic week. For five consecutive days during school hours, the children and their teacher are immersed in Jefferson Lab's forefront research environment, where they participate in science and math events and activities conducted with scientists, engineers, and technicians. Each year, approximately 20% (100 people) of the Lab's staff is involved with BEAMS. Some staff members may only volunteer 3 times per year, others every other week.

BEAMS takes place in an on-site classroom, in laboratories, assembly areas, and at the accelerator site. A family night is held for the participating students' families to increase the parents' understanding of science, math, and technology, stimulate greater involvement in their child's education, and reinforce the BEAMS experience. The ongoing interactions in the 7th and 8th grades extend the initial positive influence BEAMS has shown at the sixth grade level.

The schools which participate in the BEAMS Program are chosen by representatives of Newport News City Public Schools and Jefferson Lab. Selection guidelines include students who:

• would not normally have an opportunity for exposure to science, scientists, engineers, or a high-tech workplace;
• are traditionally underrepresented in math and science, including ethnic minorities, females, and the economically disadvantaged; and
• are traditionally not electing to take challenging math and science courses.

Program Budget
About $250K for 1400 students per year

Evaluation
Results from the on-going evaluation of BEAMS include: (1) students attending BEAMS are significantly more positive about science and school than students not attending; (2) teachers report that BEAMS increases their awareness of hands-on science, applications of math and science, and careers in math and science; and (3) parents report that the BEAMS program is a unique positive influence on their children. Preliminary results from Virginia standardized test scores show that BEAMS is helping to close the disparity gap between traditionally low scoring schools and average scoring schools. Huntington Middle School, where students attend BEAMS in grades 6, 7, and 8, shows improvements in test scores from 1998 to 2001 of 29 percentage points in mathematics and 26 percentage points in science. Huntington Middle School's school district showed increases of 15 percentage points in mathematics and 13 percentage points in science.

Anecdotal Evaluation
Compared with control students:

• Students attending BEAMS are significantly more positive than their peers not attending
• BEAMS students have a better understanding of the importance of math and science
• Girls' perception that women can be scientists increased after participating in BEAMS
• BEAMS students have more specific and realistic ideas of what scientists do
• BEAMS increases teachers' understanding and awareness of science, careers, and applications
• Parents report BEAMS is a positive influence on their children

Virginia Standards of Learning Test Result

Huntington (BEAMS school) Scores vs. Control Schools Scores (Grade 8, 1998-2001)

What is Jefferson Lab?
(An excerpt from the 6th grade BEAMS Book)

Jefferson Lab is a laboratory for basic research in nuclear physics. Nuclear physics is the science of studying the nucleus of the atom. Jefferson Lab also works with industry to develop technologies for businesses to use and with schools to motivate students and assist teachers.

Jefferson Lab's mission is to provide scientists around the world with opportunities to experiment with and learn more about nucleons.

Jefferson Lab's main instrument is a machine, called an accelerator, that is able to make electrons go really fast. The accelerator is in an underground, racetrack-shaped tunnel, 1.4 km around, that delivers a beam of electrons to experiments in three large experimental halls called end stations.

The facility is owned by the government's Department of Energy (DOE) and is managed by the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA). SURA is a group of 61 universities in fifteen southeastern states and the District of Columbia. SURA also manages other large research projects in the southeastern region of the United States.

About $600 million was spent over ten years to build the facility in Newport News, Virginia. Scientists from around the world are currently using Jefferson Lab's accelerator for experiments to study the nucleus of the atom. These experiments can take months to run. Once scientists complete their work at the lab they must analyze the data they have gathered. What they find out may change what we know about the structure of nuclear matter, making Jefferson Lab a vital instrument of the scientific world.

Contact
Janet H. Tyler - Science Education Manager
U.S. Department of Energy's
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab)
BEAMS: Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science
12000 Jefferson Avenue, Newport News, VA, 23606
Phone: (757) 269-7164
Email: tyler@jlab.org

Web Site
education.jlab.org/beams/

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Created: 5/18/2002
Last updated: 5/20/2002
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov

BEAMS Students at Jefferson Labs

Students test a boat during design and engineering.

Helping students learn how scientists "see" inside atoms.

Learning about liquid nitrogen