URMC’s Science Take Out introduced a line of high school science kits at a gathering of New York State science teachers last weekend in Rochester.
The company made its commercial debut at the Science Teachers Association of New York State’s annual convention, which was held at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center from Nov. 1 to 4.
The company was formed in opposition to New York State’s high school standardized testing system. To be eligible for the science Regents exam, students must complete a minimum of 20 hours of lab activity, a prerequisite that prevents some students from graduating high school. In Rochester area schools, half of the students who do not qualify for a diploma do not graduate because they have not met the requirement.
‘Many schools do not have the resources to enable students to make up missed labs outside of the regular classroom schedule,” President of Science Take Out and Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine at URMC Dina Markowitz, Ph.D. said.
Markowitz created the kits with colleague Susan Holt, who is a retired biology teacher from the Buffalo area. The company has already developed nine lab kits.
Schneier is a member of the class of 2011.
