Gap Junction is an interactive science service learning
program for middle school kids in Boston in which Tufts
graduate students volunteer as instructors to bring
in hands-on science into afterschool programs. Begun
in 1996 by two enterprising veterinary students, the Gap
Junction program remains a student-run organization which
in addition to students in the Veterinary and Sackler
schools will soon also involve medical students.
The goal of the program is three-fold:
| • |
To foster closer ties between Tufts University
and the surrounding communities. |
| • |
To bring in hands-on science to kids that they
may not get in a classroom, and to expose them to
what science as a profession is about. |
| • |
To give graduate students an opportunity to refine
their teaching and interpersonal skills while contributing
to public awareness of science. |
For these reasons, the program carries
the name Gap Junction, a reference to the cellular structure
which facilitates two-way exchange between compartments.
One of the organizations that Gap Junction participates
in is The Paraclete
Center in South Boston.
Anyone interested in participating in the program should
contact their GSC representatives for more information.
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