Education & Outreach

Multilingual videos to introduce children to archaeology, paleontology and more

Megan Maneval — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 14:06:50 +0000

Multilingual videos to introduce children to archaeology, paleontology and more Megan Maneval Thu, 10/02/2025 - 08:06

CU Museum of Natural History’s Curator of Archaeology William Taylor’s interest in the sciences was sparked at a young age. Taylor started thinking about archaeology when he was 5 or 6 years old, playing Indiana Jones computer games and dreaming about the adventures he might have. The lightbulb moment occurred in grade school, during a class field trip to regional museum, where he joined an actual archaeological dig and helped find a veritable artifact!

Decades later, Taylor has teamed with Amelia the Archaeologist (a deaf public archaeology outreach educator) and his sister Cecily Whitworth (a deaf advocate, artist and educator), plus CU researchers and CU students to pilot a pair of videos that may inspire kids to be scientists, too.

“It is especially powerful for young folks to look at a scientist and see someone they can grow up to be,” said Taylor.

“I agree,” added Whitworth, "These materials are designed especially for kids who have never met a scientist before. I hope we are planting some seeds that grow into paleontologists and archaeologists in about 20 years!”

For adults interested—or enthusiastic—about archaeology, sign up for the first Archaeological Institute of America lecture of the season at CU on Oct. 23.

This project started small. The original educational offerings included exercises, worksheets and activities. The PACES grant from CU allowed the group to branch out to make videos and to include a paleontology video as well. “We hope to expand this project in the future to bring in other disciplines, other scientists from the museum, around campus and other languages,” said Taylor.

Online visitors can access each video, learn more about the content creators, plus download and engage with additional educational activities for young people—via the museum's Museum from Home webpage.

For more information about CU’s PACES grants and the communities they serve visit the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship.

Researchers, educational specialists and students at the CU Museum of Natural History are using a CU PACES grant to create educational content introducing a broad audience of children to the sciences.

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Building the quantum workforce of the future: A new study seeks the way

Daniel William Strain — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:16:44 +0000

Building the quantum workforce of the future: A new study seeks the way Daniel William… Tue, 09/30/2025 - 12:16

Daniel Strain

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis cuts the ribbon for the Quantum Incubator, a facility in Boulder that seeks to foster new quantum companies and technologies. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa/CU Boulder)

A team of physicists and education researchers is spearheading the largest study of its kind exploring how the United States can meet the needs of the rapidly growing quantum technology industry.

The study, which launched in 2024, is led by CU Boulder and Rochester Institute of Technology and funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Laboratory for Physical Science Qubit Collaboratory.

Learn more about quantum research at CU Boulder

In recent years, quantum technology companies have begun to pop up across the United States. These companies design technologies that tap into some of the unique properties of very small things like atoms and electrons. Such technologies include “quantum computers” that could one day discover previously unknown medications, or sensors that can detect signs of illness in a single puff of breath.

But the growth of the industry also raises a major question, said physicist Heather Lewandowski, one of the project leads: How can the nation better prepare students to enter this uncharted industry?

“Quantum is big, both in Colorado and throughout the nation,” said Lewandowski, a fellow of JILA, a joint research institute between CU Boulder at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “Universities are starting new courses, new degrees, new minors, and they need data. They need to understand the types of knowledge, skills and abilities students need to be successful in the quantum workforce.”

The project is particularly timely. In 2023, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) named Elevate Quantum—a coalition of 120 organizations in the Mountain West, with CU Boulder as a prime contributor—an official tech hub for quantum information technology. Today, the industry employs 3,000 people in Colorado alone. That number could rise to 10,000 in the next decade, according to some estimates.

Map of quantum information science courses taught in the United States. Click to explore map. (Credit: RIT/CU Boulder)

To help prepare today’s students for that new frontier, Lewandowski and her colleagues set out on a massive undertaking.

In their study, the researchers are surveying the course offerings at more than 1,400 degree-granting institutions in the United States. They will also interview 200 professionals from quantum companies in Colorado and beyond.

The group has captured some of its preliminary results in a series of studies published online ahead of print.

“Questions about workforce development and education planning are complicated because how do you plan for what’s going to happen in this industry in five years?” said Shams El-Adawy, a postdoctoral research associate on Lewandowski’s team.

Study time

Lewandowski noted that quantum technologies are nothing new. Many everyday tools, such as the laser scanners at grocery stores or the transistors in your computer, rely on an understanding of the physics of very small things.

The recent growth in quantum companies, however, stems from technologies that take advantage of two quantum properties—entanglement and superposition. They are phenomena that allow scientists to, for example, measure things they couldn’t with traditional technology. The field is sometimes known as quantum information science.

“Whether it's measuring magnetic fields in the brain or the pull of gravity, the better you can measure things, the better you can understand the physical world,” Lewandowski said.

Heather Lewandowski

Shams El-Adawy

In the current study, Lewandowski, El-Adawy and their colleagues set out to understand how universities around the country are responding to this uncharted industry.

They built an interactive map of every quantum information science program in the nation—including the degrees, minors, concentrations and more offered by institutions of higher learning.

Colorado, for example, is home to six institutions that offer courses in quantum information science. CU Boulder alone offers 13 courses in the field.

Many of these courses are still only available to graduate students, but the offerings for undergrads are growing, El-Adawy said. Many schools are also getting creative about how they give students a grounding in quantum technologies.

“A lot of disciplines are sprinkling some of these topics in quantum information science into courses that are not fully dedicated to quantum information science, such as existing quantum courses,” she said.

Get to work

So far, the researchers have talked to more than 40 representatives from quantum technology companies, both in Colorado and around the United States. They urge interested business leaders, scientists, engineers and more to reach out if they want to participate.

In a study published online ahead of print, a clear trend jumped out at the researchers from the interviews: Businesses really want to hire recent graduates who have hands-on experience with quantum technologies. That might include everything from writing the complex algorithms that govern quantum computers to working with specialized lasers in an engineering lab class.

In 2023, CU Boulder launched the Quantum Scholars Program. It connects undergraduate students at the university to quantum companies in the area, showing them what kinds of careers are possible in the field.

“Our goal is to come back to the higher ed community and say, ‘What do we do with this knowledge?” Lewandowski said. “How do we build it into learning goals for classes and programs?”

Beyond the story

Our quantum impact by the numbers:

60-plus years as the regional epicenter for quantum research
4 Nobel prizes in physics awarded to university researchers
No. 11 quantum physics program in the nation and co-leader on the new Quantum Incubator facility

Follow CU Boulder on LinkedIn

In the largest study of its kind, researchers are exploring how the United States can prepare students to enter into the rapidly growing quantum technology industry.

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Expanding career horizons through classroom outreach

Megan Maneval — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:03:32 +0000

Expanding career horizons through classroom outreach Megan Maneval Tue, 09/30/2025 - 12:03

Christy Go

Senior Isaac Kou—a double major in computer science and ecology and evolutionary biology, minoring in dance—had not considered working in education or with K-12 students until hearing about the Program for Teaching East Asia’s classroom outreach program. Viewing it as an interesting opportunity to develop different skills and give back to the community, Kou applied. Apprehensive at first, Kou blossomed into a confident educator, excited to share about Japanese culture and engage with students.

Isaac Kou reads "The Sound of Silence" to a group of first graders.

�� the program

Now having completed its second successful year, the Program for Teaching East Asia’s (TEA) classroom outreach program focuses on ways K-12 educators can use picture books about East Asia to engage students in cross-curricular learning. The program was made possible through sponsorship from the Office of Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and the National Consortium for Teaching �� Asia. Participating CU students are each assigned a book set in East Asia then work with TEA staff to develop a lesson, practice reading delivery and ultimately present a storybook reading and mini-lesson to Colorado K-8 classrooms.

This year’s program, “Teaching Geography Through East Asian Picture Books,” engaged elementary and middle school students in classrooms from Greeley and the Denver metro area all the way to Grand Junction. These students explored urban and rural settings in East Asia and participated in activities that included listening to the sounds of the city of Tokyo to identifying different types of rice, including finding the “imposter.”

Running from February to May, the program successfully concluded with several CU student facilitators participating in reading to multiple classes during a celebratory day at a local elementary school. In total, the program reached 49 classrooms in eight school districts.

The CU outreach students hailed from different specializations, not necessarily aiming for careers in education. However, all the participants expressed how teaching impacted them and became so much more than just presenting material to young children. CU students reported that organizing a clear presentation adapted for different audiences, practicing projection and enunciation through readings, and answering questions and clarifying points on the fly helped them improve their public speaking and professionalism—useful skills that can be transferred to future career settings.

Lily Elliott

Lily Elliott, a senior double majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology and Asian studies, challenged herself by preparing lessons for two books. Elliott was able to leverage her expertise in the sciences for the book “Rice,” about growing and harvesting rice in southern China, but she also stepped out of her comfort zone in preparing the second book, “The Ocean Calls,” about haenyeo, traditional Korean female divers. Working with a topic she wasn’t as familiar with prompted Elliott to engage in a different kind of reflection after each lesson and consider organization and delivery of the material in a more critical way.

Kyrie MacArthur

Sophomore history and education major Kyrie MacArthur, who also prepared for the book “The Ocean Calls,” relished the opportunity to prepare and execute her own lesson and reported the experience as great practice for her work as an educator. The experience confirmed her love for teaching; the program gave her the opportunity to work with elementary grades, expanding her thoughts about which grade levels could be her specialization. MacArthur's experience made her consider teaching upper elementary, as well as middle school, which could broaden future career opportunities.

Bhavana Moore

Participating student facilitators

Amanda Aldridge
Graduate student, Class of 2025
Master of Arts in Education with Teaching Licensure in Curriculum and Instruction: Social Studies

Lily Elliott
Senior, Class of 2025
Ecology and evolutionary biology, Asian studies

Christy Go
Doctoral candidate, Class of 2028
Music education and Asian studies

Isaac Kou
Senior, Class of 2025
Computer science, ecology and evolutionary biology, dance

Kyrie MacArthur
Sophomore, Class of 2027
History and education

Bhavana Moore
Sophomore, Class of 2027
Asian studies, English

Kristie Trevey
Graduate student, Class of 2025
Master of Arts in Education with Teaching Licensure in Curriculum and Instruction: Social Studies

Books featured in the program

"Mommy’s Hometown" by Hope Lim
"The Ocean Calls" by Tina Cho
"Rice" by Hongcheng Yu
"The Sound of Silence" by Katrina Goldsaito
"Warrior Princess" by Sally Deng

Having started a reading program for Nepalese children previously, sophomore Asian studies and English double major Bhavana Moore had already dipped her toes in the education pool. By participating in this program with the book “Warrior Princess,” about a legendary figure in Mongol culture, she gained experience preparing lessons in a classroom setting, giving her a chance to compare how to prepare for small- and large-group instruction. The program fanned the flame of passion Moore has for education, encouraging her consider how to connect her interests with education for future careers.

Kristie Trevey, Amanda Aldridge

Two participants were graduate students in secondary social studies education. They found the program helpful for learning about child development in the elementary grades.

Kristie Trevey said it was rewarding to participate in the program and see the impact of bringing guest speakers into the classroom for memorable student learning and connection. She especially enjoyed engaging students in discussions about family and change over time with the book “Mommy’s Hometown,” a story about a mother’s recollections of her childhood in a Korean town.

Trevey is now continuing her impact in the field as the director of elementary learning support at Evergreen Country Day School.

Amanda Aldridge said, through her visits at elementary schools, she thought about how picture books could enhance middle school instruction. Aldridge created remarkable curriculum on the book “Warrior Princess,” which she presented in schools as part of the program and then also to secondary teachers from across the nation at this year’s summer institute on the Mongols in East Asia, a program hosted on the CU campus by the Program for Teaching East Asia.

Aldridge is excited to continue her work as a new teacher at Hulstrom K-8 and will be part of a panel at this year’s National Council of Teachers of English Conference, presenting on the same book.

Isaac Kou

As for Kou, his experience with the TEA program broadened his career aspirations and led him to consider connecting his degrees with work benefitting the community and educational work for children. He has just recently been appointed as the IT manager of the Children’s Museum of Denver, bringing his IT expertise to an educational setting.

Growing as educators

While participating elementary teachers expressed the program was beneficial from a cross-curricular standpoint, they emphasized the impact of the CU students who brought in individual perspectives and innovative teaching techniques into their classrooms.

TEA’s graduate student assistant and coordinator for the program, Christy Go, enjoyed seeing how the expertise and experiences each student brought from their respective fields converged to create meaningful lessons. As a former K-8 music educator, Go saw each student improve their instruction and become more grounded in their identities as educators throughout the program. From the perspective of an aspiring teacher educator, Go felt it was extremely rewarding and validating to coach the students and contribute to their reflections and growth.

The success of the program highlights the importance and transferability of teaching skills and the powerful impact of outreach in the community. TEA is extremely proud to have worked with these incredible students and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

The Program for Teaching East Asia at the Center for Asian Studies at CU Boulder is a member of the National Consortium for Teaching �� Asia and works to provide teachers with robust professional development about East Asia for application in K-12 classrooms nationwide.

CU outreach students are finding ways of bringing their teaching experience into expanding career pathways.

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Program increases data science literacy through intensive summer program

Megan Maneval — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 16:20:25 +0000

Program increases data science literacy through intensive summer program Megan Maneval Tue, 08/26/2025 - 10:20

CIRES

A CU Boulder lab welcomed more than 20 students from four minority-serving institutions to work collaboratively to master new skills. This was part of the Environmental Data Science Innovation & Impact Lab program.

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Celebrating 5 years of teaching and learning innovation

Megan Maneval — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 15:38:38 +0000

Celebrating 5 years of teaching and learning innovation Megan Maneval Wed, 08/13/2025 - 09:38

Since its founding in 2020, the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) has been a hub for fostering excellence in inclusive, evidence-based teaching and supporting educator development. For the past five years, the CTL has empowered thousands of educators—faculty, postdocs, graduate instructors and staff—through free consultations; teaching observations; programs and communities of practice; online teaching resources; campus teaching and learning initiatives; and a robust calendar of workshops, conferences and community events.

From launching four annual conferences to cultivating partnerships with key units to lead campuswide teaching and learning initiatives, CTL’s dedicated team is helping to shape a campus culture that values curiosity, creativity and innovation in the classroom.

The recent integration of ASSETT (Arts & Sciences Support of Education Through Technology) into the CTL in July 2025 marks a new chapter—uniting expertise in pedagogy and educational technology to serve CU Boulder’s diverse teaching community.

"As we celebrate five years of the Center for Teaching and Learning, I’m deeply proud of our accomplishments and the ever-expanding resources, consultations and workshops we offer,” said Kirk Ambrose, CTL’s founding director. “I look forward to our center’s continued growth and to working collaboratively with the recently launched Buckley Center for Sustainability Education,” as we explore and integrate best practices for teaching and learning throughout our campus,” said Ambrose.

CTL’s achievements since its founding:

Hosted over 250 workshops and events for CU educators in key areas such as instructional design, inclusive practices, assessment, and innovation and technology.
Supported over 400 graduate students through the completion of the Lead Graduate Student Fellowship Program, Certificate in College Teaching, or Future Faculty Development Certificate.
Partnered with other campus units to carry out three major BUS (Buff Undergraduate Success) initiatives to support teaching, learning and student success campuswide: the BUS Innovating Large Courses Initiative, BUS Canvas Grading Initiative and BUS Canvas Templates Initiative.
Sponsored the Innovation Incubator Interdisciplinary Data Science team, who won National Science Foundation ($300,000) and National Endowment for the Humanities ($150,000) grants to create eight new interdisciplinary data science and humanities courses.

“Faculty at CU Boulder have always valued excellent teaching,” said Katherine Eggert, vice chancellor and senior vice provost for academic planning and assessment. “What CTL has done for the university is give faculty and graduate students a vibrant, one-stop resource for gaining new skills, benefiting from new research in pedagogy and assessment, and learning from each other in a shared community around crucial topics in teaching and learning.”

As the CTL marks this milestone, be sure to participate in the following:

Attend the Fall Teaching, Learning, and Technology Conference Oct. 2–3, and register for workshops throughout the academic year.
Explore new resources and partnerships through the merged CTL-ASSETT website.

Subscribe to CTL’s newsletter for teaching strategies, resources and events geared toward the campus teaching community. Read CTL’s annual report.

What the community is saying about CTL

The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) has been an invaluable resource in my professional journey. From being able to help my students in putting together professional portfolios via Buffs Create to participating in the AI Summer Design Studio to sharing and learning through the mentor program, CTL offers invaluable training and social opportunities of all kinds.”
–Lori Poole, assistant teaching professor, communication

I am so glad that ASSETT exists and that we now have a CTL! Thank you for all the wonderful and hard work you do to help us all become better educators and to continually strive to create communities of practice! I truly am amazed by all you do and grateful to have you on campus! Thank you!”
–Leilani Arthurs, associate professor, geology

CTL is a vital resource for improving teaching and the classroom culture. It has filled a void at our university that was much needed. As an R1 research institution, teaching falls to the wayside. CTL brings teaching and the classroom into central focus, which is what supports our success in research.”
–Teresa Wroe, assistant vice chancellor of prevention and deputy Title IX coordinator, Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance

I have a greater sense of belonging through the connections I have made at the CTL. I know I have resources (and mentors) at the CTL that I can turn to, and I have made friends through participation in book clubs that carried over into other semesters and as we see each other on campus.”
–Kim Jackson, PhD candidate, HIST, participant fall 2019–spring 2024

CTL/ASSETT's programming is some of the most impactful I've experienced as both a graduate student and faculty member at CU Boulder. The opportunity to connect with other individuals from across campus (who often come from totally different disciplinary backgrounds than me) and to work to develop my teaching has had a huge impact on my career choices and ultimately life.”
–Anthony Pinter, assistant teaching professor, ATLAS

I would say that going to CTL/ASSETT events helps to keep you thinking about evidence-based practice and experimenting with how to make your teaching better—how to engage with new technology and new ideas about best practices in the classroom in a way that helps you to improve what you do.”
–Nicole Jobin, teaching professor, A&S RAPs

For the past five years, the Center for Teaching and Learning has served as a hub for providing teaching and learning support to all campus educators.

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Colorado educators explore windows to Asia's lesser-known nations

Megan Maneval — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 20:20:36 +0000

Colorado educators explore windows to Asia's lesser-known nations Megan Maneval Thu, 08/07/2025 - 14:20

While nearly every nation has a checkered past, reducing a country to a single chapter risks overlooking the richness of its history and culture.

Through a series of professional development workshops over the 2024–25 academic year, the South, Southeast, and West Asia Outreach Program (SSEWA) of the Center for Asian Studies (CAS) at CU Boulder helped teachers gain a more nuanced perspective on three conflict-affected countries—Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam—and helped reshape how some Colorado educators approach global education.

“SSEWA workshops help CU Boulder scholarship and research expand and deepen Colorado educators’ knowledge of underrepresented regions in Asia,” said SSEWA Outreach Coordinator Hannah Palustre.

CAS ran the SSEWA program from 2006 to 2014 and relaunched it in 2022, through a $2.2 million National Resource Center (NRC) and Foreign Language and Area Studies grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Additional funding from the CU Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia allowed SSEWA to offer workshops at no cost to teachers, expanding access and impact.

“I recently learned that ‘sewa’ means ‘service’ in Nepali, which seems fitting because the SSEWA outreach program serves teachers,” Palustre said. “Almost three years after our relaunch, we’re seeing a growing number of repeat participants—educators who continue to seek global perspectives for their classrooms.”

Afghanistan beyond the Taliban

Since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Colorado has welcomed many Afghan immigrants. According to the Colorado Office of New Americans, Afghanistan is now the second-largest country of origin for refugee resettlement in the state. Dari and Pashto, languages spoken by Afghans, now rank among the top 10 most widely spoken languages among refugees in Colorado.

Despite a growing number of Afghan students in their classrooms, many teachers still don’t have extensive knowledge about Afghanistan’s history or culture. To help bridge this gap, SSEWA organized “Afghanistan’s Terrain and Traditions,” which received over twice as many applications as the workshop’s capacity, with teachers representing Adams 12, Aurora, Boulder Valley, Cherry Creek, Denver, Douglas, Littleton and Poudre school districts.

Jennifer Fluri, chair of CU’s geography department, opened the workshop with a historical and geopolitical overview of Afghanistan. Guest speakers Sayed Naqibullah and Homayoon Milad, both Afghan immigrants in Colorado, shared insights into their religion, culture and experiences as immigrants.

“It was incredibly helpful to learn about the school system in Afghanistan, for example, that students may not yet know how to read even if they’ve been in school before,” said Amanda Clayton, director for culturally and linguistically diverse education in Adams 12 Five Star Schools. “It has changed my thinking about our approach to reading instruction and foundational literacy for many of our newcomer students.”

CU graduate student Hannah Kim, who also teaches newcomer students, emphasized the importance of regional diversity in professional development. “Most workshops focus on East Asia, so this program was a rare opportunity to learn about other Asian countries. I wish we could have more programs like this.”

Participants also received a copy of the Choices curriculum unit, “The United States in Afghanistan.” Due to the high interest received by the Afghanistan workshop, SSEWA plans to offer the program again, contingent on continued funding.

Cambodia after the genocide

Cambodia’s History and Heritage workshop participants in front of the Angkor exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

The Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia is often taught in Colorado classrooms through required units on the Cambodian genocide, often overlooking the country’s long and rich history as the center of the Khmer Empire, known for its advanced engineering, and Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious monument.

To highlight this, SSEWA partnered with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) to host “Cambodia’s History and Heritage,” a one-day workshop attended by 18 teachers that included a visit to the museum’s new temporary exhibit, “Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia.” The exhibit will be at the museum until Aug. 24, 2025.

FirstBank Executive Vice President and CU alumnus Tony Oum gave a presentation on “Cambodia’s Past, Present, and Future,” offering a visual tour of his homeland while sharing experiences as a Cambodian Buddhist living in Colorado.

Sarah Klassen, assistant director of CU’s Center for Collaborative Synthesis in Archeology, gave a talk on recent efforts to map Angkor and uncover more about its urban and environmental history. Her presentation on light detection and ranging (LiDAR) inspired teachers to explore how archeology and science intersect with social studies education.

“I want to learn more about LiDAR and how it can help us better understand ancient civilizations. I will use that information to encourage cross-curricular lessons and activities at my school,” said Andrew Alexander, who teaches social studies in Weld RE-4 School District.

“It was great to get a historical and personal perspective from Tony Oum and to learn from Dr. Klassen about how LiDAR is changing cultural studies. I’m working on a lesson plan to share with my colleagues,” said Vanessa Carroll, who runs a post-secondary program in Boulder Valley School District.

Teachers then toured the Angkor exhibit, which features over a hundred original artifacts—sculptures, musical instruments, religious figures—many never displayed outside Cambodia before.

“The information about Angkor Wat was beneficial to me in helping students understand how rulers legitimize authority through infrastructure and religion. The exhibit also did a great job of honoring the history and religious aspects of Cambodia,” said Alexis Hoffman, who teaches AP world history at Horizon High School in Adams 12.

“I loved hearing that the Cambodian government had approved the artifacts and worked with DMNS on the exhibit. The interactive displays would be great for my students,” said Emma Wolf, who teaches geography at Endeavor Academy in Cherry Creek, adding that the breakout sessions with fellow teachers helped create great ideas for the classroom.

Vietnam is a country, not a war

Educators discuss and analyze archival photos from University Libraries’ Rare and Distinctive Collections during the Vietnam through Time summer workshop.

Finally, the SSEWA 2025 summer workshop centered on the theme, “Vietnam through Time: Teaching the History, Culture, and Transformation of a Nation,” to mark 50 years since the Fall of Saigon. Held over three days in June, the workshop brought together secondary and community college educators to reframe how Vietnam is taught, shifting from war narratives to a broader view of its rich pre-colonial past and present-day identity.

Organized around daily topics like “War and Memory,” “Roots and Representations,” and “Continuity and Change,” the workshop featured lectures and interactive sessions led by CU faculty.

Steven Dike, associate teaching professor of history, provided historical context on the Vietnam wars. Asian Studies Program Director Lauren Collins and Sean Babbs of University Libraries co-led an interactive session on teaching Vietnam through photography, using images from the libraries’ Rare and Distinctive Collections, including colonial, wartime and post-war photos.

A veteran panel composed of CU Professor Emeritus of Art Chuck Forsman, CU Regent Emeritus Peter Steinhauer, and Veterans for Peace National President Susan Schnall shared their reflections on returning to Vietnam, while Rose Campbell, co-director of the Center for the Study of War Experience at Regis University, discussed how war anniversaries are commemorated differently in Vietnam and the U.S.

“Dr. Collins and Sean Babbs provided a wealth of resources that I would never have realized were available to me,” said Becky Barton, a history teacher at Golden High School and Red Rocks Community College. “It’s always been a struggle for me and my planning team to find quality sources for students to analyze, and I’ve just been handed a goldmine for future lessons.”

Alyson Koerner, who teaches U.S. history at Dakota Ridge High School in Jefferson County, said, “Professor Dike’s words, ‘Vietnam is a country, not a war,’ struck a deep chord with me. The workshop challenged me to move beyond a war-centered lens, broadened my perspective, and encouraged me to rethink not only what I teach but the way I teach it.”

To elevate Vietnamese voices, three guest speakers were invited to lend authenticity and lived experiences to the sessions.

Modern Vietnam scholar Alex-Thài Vo, a research assistant professor from Texas Tech University’s Vietnam Center & Archive, used a bowl of pho to illustrate the country’s diversity, which inspired teachers to bring a new approach to their classrooms.

“Food is a meaningful and accessible entry point for students,” said Scott Braun, a social studies teacher at Newton Middle School in Littleton, who designed an extra credit project called “Exploring Vietnam through Pho.” “It will allow my students to examine Vietnamese culture through something they already love—food.”

Joie Lê, adjunct professor at the University of Denver, presented on Vietnam’s early colonization and pre-Indochina history, and closed the workshop with a session on memory and memorials. She also shared her story as a Vietnamese adoptee, along with lots of book recommendations about her birth country.

“Dr. Lê drove home the point that language and how we communicate matter,” said Amy Robbins, a humanities teacher at Watershed School in Boulder. “As teachers, we choose the narratives we bring into our classrooms, and it was a powerful reminder not to settle for just one story.”

Nga Vương-Sandoval, founder of Colorado nonprofit Refugees + Immigrants United, recounted her personal experience as a refugee and addressed the proper spelling of her home country—Việt Nam. She explained that the Westernized spelling, “Vietnam,” became common due to telegraph-era limitations at the time, which often required compressing words for efficiency.

“Every speaker changed the way I think about Vietnam, its people, and the importance of how we teach history. I feel better equipped and more motivated to bring these stories and voices into my classroom,” said Braun.

After the summer program, participants submitted curriculum implementation plans detailing how they will integrate new insights into their respective courses. They also received copies of the Choices curriculum unit, “The Vietnam War: Origins, History, and Legacies” from the Program for Teaching East Asia, a CAS affiliate.

As educators return to their classrooms, they bring with them not only new knowledge and strategies but also a deeper commitment to teaching countries like Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam with greater nuance, highlighting the richness of their histories and cultures, and not only the conflicts that brought them into the global spotlight.

For more information about SSEWA programs, email Outreach Coordinator Hannah Palustre at ssewa@colorado.edu or visit their website.

The Center for Asian Studies and its SSEWA program rely on grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Due to shifting priorities at the federal level, that grant funding has become tenuous. We invite you to help support CAS.

Through a Center for Asian Studies program, K-14 educators gained a more nuanced perspective on culture, conflict and change among three conflict-affected countries—Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam.

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High school students conduct high-level research with CU mentors

Megan Maneval — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 19:01:56 +0000

High school students conduct high-level research with CU mentors Megan Maneval Wed, 07/30/2025 - 13:01

Thirty-five high school students participated in Science Discovery’s annual summer STEM Research Experience at CU Boulder and CU Anschutz, which culminated in a poster session on July 25.

Students spent six weeks conducting mentored research projects in university labs and attending a research methods and science communication course. This hands-on lab experience allowed students to explore pathways in STEM, build relationships with professional researchers and develop a clearer picture of what it means to be a scientist. Many participants reflected on how research was different than they imagined prior to joining the lab and how working with CU scientists supported their development.

“I learned that research isn’t just about doing experiments, but it’s about being curious, staying organized and thinking critically. It made me appreciate how much work goes into the discoveries we hear about, and it definitely got me more interested in science and healthcare.” –CU Anschutz Research Experience Participant.

“My mentor really helped me understand a lot of very complicated concepts and was patient enough to walk me through how to run a lot of different experiments and analytical techniques. She also was very helpful in other ways as she gave me help with my poster and helped me meet a lot of the other people in the lab. It was a very positive experience” –CU Boulder Research Experience Participant

In turn, participating researchers from 16 departments gained valuable mentorship experience and received an academic enrichment grant to support their projects. CU Science Discovery will be recruiting mentors for next year’s program in January 2026. You can also reach out to Steven Denham (steven.denham@colorado.edu) for more information about the program.

Thirty-five high school students participated in Science Discovery’s annual summer STEM Research Experience at CU Boulder and CU Anschutz.

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Research institute building the AI-literate workforce of the future receives major new grant

Daniel William Strain — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 20:52:57 +0000

Research institute building the AI-literate workforce of the future receives major new grant Daniel William… Tue, 07/29/2025 - 14:52

Daniel Strain

Illustration depicting students in small groups collaborating using an AI partner called "CoBi." (Credit: NSF iSAT)

In the not-so-distant future, artificial intelligence (AI) partners could sit in classrooms around the country—helping small groups of students engage in lively conversations and take charge of their own learning.

That’s the vision of the U.S. National Science Foundation National AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming (NSF iSAT). This pioneering research institute, led by the ��, launched in 2020 to explore how classrooms could become more effective and engaging learning environments.

After a rigorous review process, the NSF announced today that it is renewing NSF iSAT’s funding for another five years, part of a $100 million investment by the federal government into AI research.

Sidney D’Mello, director of NSF iSAT, explained that the center meets a major need in the United States—to prepare students to enter a workforce that is being transformed in profound ways by AI technology.

NSF iSAT partner universities

Boston University
Brandeis University
Colorado State University
University of California Berkeley
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

“iSAT offers an exciting vision for 21st century AI-enhanced classrooms, where all students experience the joy of learning by working together to co-construct knowledge, making discoveries through inquiry, and developing their interests and passions,” said D’Mello, professor at the Institute of Cognitive Science and Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder.

In its first five years, NSF iSAT has tackled that goal in a totally new way.

Currently, most AI tools in education focus on helping individual students develop content mastery through personalized learning, D’Mello said. To complement that approach, NSF iSAT focuses on developing AI tools that help students collaborate in ways that are both meaningful and productive.

NSF iSAT has already made impressive progress: Since 2020, institute researchers have engaged more than 6,000 middle school students and their teachers in hands-on, student-centered investigations in AI and STEM topics. The team has developed three AI literacy curriculum units, which together comprise a semester-long sequence. Units focus on environmental sensors, self-driving cars and moderating online communities.

The center’s researchers have also developed two AI “partners,” which they’ve tested in real-world classrooms. They are CoBi, short for “Community Builder,” and the Jigsaw Interactive Agent (JIA). These tools support students by providing feedback and prompts to help them build knowledge, share information and work through uncertainty and differences in ideas. CoBi and JIA also aim to help students improve their collaboration skills while learning—what the researchers call “learning to collaborate and collaborating to learn.”

“Our vision is about going beyond individual engagement with AI to collaborative engagement.” said Thomas Breideband, associate director of NSF iSAT at CU Boulder.

Over the next five years, the NSF iSAT team, which includes scientists from CU Boulder and five partner universities, will enhance and expand its work on AI-enabled curricula to more schools across the country.

“We are thrilled that the iSAT team’s funding has been renewed for another five years,” said Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation and dean of the institutes. “The sophisticated approach to AI and its application in education undertaken by the team is truly groundbreaking and positions the project to achieve profound benefits for students and teachers, in addition to the many collaborating partners.”

Student driven and teachers in charge

NSF iSAT is unique, D’Mello added, because kids don’t just beta test these AI tools—they play a leading role in developing them from the ground up. Specifically, NSF iSAT adopts a “responsible innovation” framework in research and development that centers youth and teachers and is receptive to their needs and desires. It also empowers kids to think critically about how they use AI and its possible consequences.

The researchers emphasize that they don’t want these tools to replace teachers, but to support them as class sizes and workloads swell. Teachers will always remain the primary driver of students’ learning, D’Mello said. As such, NSF iSAT also researches how to prepare teachers to implement a triple innovation challenge: how to orchestrate classrooms with AI tools, AI curriculum and student-centered inquiry.

“NSF iSAT’s innovative co-design processes have not only enabled teachers and district leaders to directly shape the technology and curriculum they use in their classrooms,” said Tamara Sumner, professor of cognitive and computer science at CU Boulder. “Participating in these processes has cultivated a new generation of educational leaders prepared to integrate AI into their teaching practices and to support their colleagues along their learning journey.”

In the next phase of its evolution, NSF iSAT will expand toward building a next-generation, AI-ready workforce for the United States. The team will also conduct case studies to understand what practices and conditions help schools take up and implement AI-enhanced learning. The researchers hope that these case studies will help them scale their work up to more schools across the nation. They will also expand partnerships with industry to accelerate innovation and workforce readiness for AI.

Beyond the Story

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$742 million in research funding earned in 2023–24
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$1.4 billion impact of CU Boulder's research activities on the Colorado economy in 2023–24

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Founded in 2020, the U.S. National Science Foundation National AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming (NSF iSAT) explores how AI can help K-12 students collaborate together in ways that are meaningful and productive.

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Science inherits the wind of century-old verdict

Megan Maneval — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 19:55:27 +0000

Science inherits the wind of century-old verdict Megan Maneval Wed, 07/23/2025 - 13:55

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

On the 100-year anniversary of the Scopes Evolution Trial, CU Boulder scientist Andrew Martin reflects on science education and on "same issues, different players."

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Tucked in the heart of campus, CU Boulder's hidden gem turns 50

Megan Maneval — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 13:08:15 +0000

Tucked in the heart of campus, CU Boulder's hidden gem turns 50 Megan Maneval Thu, 07/17/2025 - 07:08

Katie Miller , Liz Berube , LJ Werner

If you’ve ever strolled past Fiske Planetarium on CU Boulder’s campus, you may have unknowingly passed by one of the university’s most cherished treasures. Nestled in the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) building, just steps from the bustle of campus life, is a small but mighty early childhood program that’s been shaping young minds—and future educators—for half a century.

This year, the Child Learning Center (CLC) proudly celebrates 50 years of serving children and families across Boulder and the greater Front Range. More than a preschool and toddler play group, CLC is a place where children aged 1.5 to 5 years and their families are uniquely and playfully supported to thrive by a dedicated team of early childhood specialists, including an early childhood special educator, a speech language pathologist, an occupational therapist and an early childhood teacher.

A unique approach to early childhood education

The CLC is an inclusive early childhood setting, meaning it welcomes a diverse group of children: those with typical needs, those with special needs, and children and families who are diverse in other ways. All children benefit from this model, as it promotes empathy and appreciation of differences. It prepares children to be in community with people who think and communicate in different ways, and to value the strengths and challenges that exist in all of us.

The highly qualified and collaborative team relies on evidence-based best practices for supporting learning and growth in language and literacy development, social and emotional skills, cognitive development, and fine and gross motor skills. Through observing the children’s interests and needs, as well as incorporating family priorities, the teachers embed rich and purposeful learning opportunities across play and daily routines.

While the children lead the play, the adults provide just the right kind and amount of support at the right times to meet both individual and group needs.

A training ground for the future

While the children are at the heart of the CLC, the program plays a vital role in training the next generation of speech language pathologists and educators. Each year, more than 20 CU Boulder undergraduate and graduate students from the SLHS department join the CLC’s multidisciplinary team to gain hands-on experience under the guidance of seasoned professionals.

These future therapists and teachers don’t just learn theory—they learn how to connect, adapt and create meaningful learning experiences based on each child’s interests and needs. The CLC classroom is a living lab of play-based learning and collaboration.

A legacy of learning and love

Rita Weiss

The CLC first opened its doors in 1974 under the direction of Elizabeth “Tikki” Heublein to support the work of the late Rita Weiss. As a speech language pathologist, Weiss was devoted to supporting the language development of young children with a particular focus on the value of providing intervention within the classroom setting rather than removing children for individual therapy.

Shortly after separating from the Department of Speech and Drama in 1969, the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, along with the Speech and Hearing Center, acquired several small buildings on campus. It was in the basement of a renovated house at 924 Broadway, still located just north of Regent Drive, where the preschool found its original home.

Weiss received funding for a model project from the Handicap Children’s Early Education Program administered by the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare). The project ran for three years, 1974–77, with the overarching goal of “improv[ing] the language and related learning skills of 3- to 5-year-old language handicapped and bilingual (Spanish) children by a naturalistic, non-stigmatizing method.” Additionally, outcomes of the project had the potential to revolutionize the way speech language pathologists conducted therapy in the school-based environment.

Weiss based her work on the cutting-edge ideology that a child’s innate predisposition to learn language can be cultivated through purposeful interactions in a natural, active learning environment. These philosophies laid the framework for which she developed the INte-REActive Learning (INREAL) strategies. The INREAL strategies encouraged a balance of interaction between child and adult (verbal, nonverbal or both).

Tikki Heublein in the 1980s

Previously, school-based speech and language intervention occurred outside the classroom, incorporating almost exclusively adult-led activities in which children received tangible reinforcements or praise for correct speech production. In this new method, the adult followed the child’s lead by matching their communication within play then gradually scaffolded the child’s language to a higher level. The interactions occurred in a natural but intentional manner.

Following the conclusion of the project, the results were clear: The children who participated had shown significant growth in their language skills. Furthermore, longitudinal data collected between 1977 and 1980 confirmed the preschool and kindergarten children who previously received learning supported by the INREAL strategies needed fewer remedial treatments later on and were less likely to be held back a grade compared to their peers.

Spearheaded by Heublein and guided by Weiss, the INREAL program set its sights on bringing the strategies to early childhood educators throughout the country. Incredibly, between the years of 1975 and 1986, the CLC secured more than $1,000,000 in various federal grant monies to sustain INREAL training programs, along with the preschool operations. As a result, thousands of school teachers and early childhood specialists received intensive training in the INREAL techniques across more than 30 states, as well as several foreign countries including Japan, Germany, Costa Rica and Canada.

While formal training in the INREAL strategies no longer takes place outside the CLC, this groundbreaking approach helped shape the way children’s language, cognitive and social development is understood and nurtured. It continued on to inspire subsequent studies across the country and has been incorporated into several early language intervention programs that are still widely used today.

The storybook journey

Sue McCord

In 1980, the department moved to its current location along Kittredge Loop Road. It was here that another exceptional educator became embedded into CLC history.

Sue McCord was hired as the CLC director in 1986 where she remained in this position until 2000. After graduating from Boston University’s Wheelock College in early childhood education, McCord spent 17 years at Cornell University teaching both university students as well as preschoolers in the on-site classroom. She moved to Boulder with her family in 1981 where she began work initially at the local Mapletree Preschool and later as the lead instructor of the demonstration preschool within Denver University’s speech pathology and audiology program.

It was through these experiences where she first conceptualized a classroom curriculum centered around the impact of learning and play through storybooks. The CLC provided the perfect match for continuing to shape her ideas into what eventually became the Storybook Journey (SBJ) curriculum, first published in 1995 (revised in 2011).

Gradually, the curriculum attracted attention and today has found a niche within a handful of small preschools nationwide who prioritized literature-based, child-centric learning.

Within the SBJ, providers use a storybook as a springboard to plan experiences that build on all areas of development. The book is selected based on the interests of the children and is explored over an extended period of time (one to four weeks). Each storybook serves as a vehicle to take the classroom on a collective journey, weaving common language throughout activities such as role-play, art, science, music and nature to expand their learning from the story. Over time, the story begins to come alive in the classroom, and the themes and language permeate the home environment as well.

Celebrate with us

The CLC looks forward to celebrating its storied history in August 2025. If you have previously been part of the CLC community, or an affiliate of the SLHS department, and would like to attend, please contact clc@colorado.edu for more information.

Join our community

The CLC is always looking to welcome new families into our preschool and toddler programs. For enrollment inquiries, please contact clc@colorado.edu.

The repetitive yet flexible nature of the SBJ allows educators to support each child’s unique developmental needs while simultaneously building a shared learning experience that includes all children.

Still going strong at 50

Over the years, much has changed at the University of Colorado. New buildings are continuously popping up to accommodate a rapidly growing student population, and technological advances have driven a fast-paced learning and social environment. Despite this, the CLC continues to be a timeless stronghold for the children of our community, embedded in the fabric of CU Boulder’s campus.

The program has been thoughtfully refined over time; however, its foundation remains unchanged, rooted in what children need most: a natural, inclusive and play-based environment that fosters early development and lifelong learning.

Graduate and undergraduate students in the CLC still implement the INREAL strategies, supplemented with newer research supporting best practices in language development and social skills. The joy of the SBJ continued to guide the CLC classroom this past school year with books such as "We’re Going on a Bear Hunt" by Mem Fox, "Abiyoyo" by Pete Seeger and "Pete’s A Pizza" by William Steig.

The CLC holds steadfast to its roots largely due to many inspirational individuals who have passed through its doors over the past 50 years. While they each brought their own unique experiences and perspectives, they all were devoted to instilling in children a passion for curiosity, learning, creativity and, most importantly, connection with others.

To this day, the CLC community remains dedicated to not only bringing rich, educational experiences to our youngest learners but also training and inspiring the next generation of educators. After all, the future lies with all of them.

The current CLC community would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those individuals who have been especially instrumental within the program over the past 50 years, namely: Elizabeth “Tikki” Heublein, Rita Weiss, Elizabeth “Zippy” Teas-Hester, Sara Gaar Ehrens, Cynthia Gray, Susan Moore, Sheila Goetz, Sue McCord, Barb Roscoe, Janine Randol, Amy Thrasher and LJ Werner. Additionally, we sincerely appreciate those organizations who have supported the CLC in more recent years through grants and funding, including: the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation, the Scottish Rite Foundation, the Rose Foundation, the University of Colorado Foundation, the Colorado Department of Education and the Early Childhood Council of Boulder County. Numerous others have made their mark on the CLC, including SLP clinical instructors, OTs, PTs, ECTs, student clinicians, interns and, of course, our wonderful families. We are grateful for each and every one of you!

The Child Learning Center of CU Boulder's Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Department marks 50 years of nurturing young learners, training future educators and shaping inclusive, play-based education—one storybook at a time.

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