Community Programs Office
EDUCATION
PROGRAMS & PARTNERSHIPS

MATHCOUNTS
MATHCOUNTS is a national middle school coaching and competitive mathematics program that promotes mathematics achievement through a series of fun and engaging "bee" style contests. There are four levels of competition - school, region, state, and national. The Competition(s) provide students with incentives to prepare throughout the school year to represent their schools at the MATHCOUNTS hosted events. MATHCOUNTS was developed as a positive and rewarding solution to reversing the current problem of math illiteracy as a way to make parents, educators, and the public aware of career opportunities in math. The program exists in all 50 states and is supported by the National Society of Professional Engineers.
The 2012 regional event will take place on February 12.

Museum Visit Enrichment
Museum Visit Enrichment encompasses educational programming for the Museum's daily visitors. It includes Demo Stage, providing demonstrations on science topics such as “Soils," "Density," and "Fossils,” and Tech Lab, which encourages in-depth exploration of science topics through hands-on, try-it-yourself experiments.

New Mexico Hispanic Youth Symposium. The Albuquerque event is aimed at helping sophomore-and junior-level high school students address issues such as academic achievement, career choices, community service, and personal responsibility. Students are also given the opportunity to express themselves culturally through participation in essay, speech, art, and talent competitions. Up to 200 Hispanic students will get a glimpse of college campus life, have access to professionals to advise them how to enter and stay in college, and receive year-round support to achieve their academic goals.

Local sponsors for the Symposium include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, Sandia National Laboratories, Lockheed Martin, The University of New Mexico, and New Mexico Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA). National sponsors include the Department of Justice and the Department of Energy.

Regional Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car Competition
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Security, LLC are co-sponsors of the annual Hydrogen Fuel Cell Challenge, usually held in Albuquerque. Other sponsors are the Public Service Company of New Mexico, Albuquerque Public Schools, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Department of Energy, Office of Science. The competition provides a hands-on opportunity for middle school students (grades six through eight) to understand the need for renewable energy sources and explore the emerging technology of hydrogen power. The competition consists of four areas that include the car design, an essay competition (optional) and the race itself. The regional event was Novemeber 19, 2011.

Regional Middle and High School Science Bowls
The Middle School Science Bowl (for grades six through eight) and the High School Science Bowl (for grades nine through twelve) are academic competitions sponsored by the Department of Energy, Office of Science. The Science Bowl tests students’ knowledge in all areas of science. Students are quizzed in a fast-paced question and answer forum. For both events, a regional competition is held in Albuquerque, with the winning team going on to the national competition. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the Public Service Company of New Mexico, Albuquerque Public Schools, and Sandia National Laboratories are sponsors of the regional event.
Middle school event: February 18, 2012
High school event: March 3, 2012
National event: April 26-30, 2012

Special Science Programming
Special Science Programming from the Museum encompasses seasonal science education offerings for lifelong learners of all ages with events such as “High Tech Halloween,” “Pi Day,” and the “Astronomy Days” lecture series. “Summer Adventures in Science” is a two-week children’s program that includes activities such as “Forensics,” “Water Rockets,” and the “Inventor’s Workshop.”