STEM Outreach: Fostering Partnerships between Colleges/Universities and Jr. High Schools; April 9, 2011 in Washington, DC

American Society For Biochemistry And Molecular Biology, Rockville MD

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit: The overall goal of this project is to foster outreach, service learning, and other educational and career development partnerships between biochemistry and molecular biology faculty from Washington, D.C. area colleges and universities with nearby high schools. The centerpiece of this effort will be a workshop on outreach activities for science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] faculty - college, university, middle school, and high school - held as part of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's [ASBMB] 2011 national meeting to be held April 9-13 in Washington, D.C. This workshop represents a joint initiative of the A-Bomb's Minority Affairs Committee [MAC], Education and Professional Development Committee [EPD], and Undergraduate Affiliates Network [UAN]. The immediate goal of the workshop is to promote and facilitate the establishment of outreach partnerships between faculty from Washington, D.C. area colleges and universities with STEM teachers from local middle schools. The workshop is divided into three parts. In the first part, several examples of successful STEM outreach partnerships will be presented, followed by a panel style question and answer period. In the second part, participants will be invited to try out some example hands-on activities that can easily be adopted in the classroom. The third part will consist of a networking luncheon that has as its goal to provide space and time for teachers and faculty to develop potential partnerships. The intent of this proposal is to support and incentivize the development of active research partnerships by providing seed funds to design and implement hands-on activities in their classrooms and also support relevant professional training activities, thereby immediately impacting science learning for their students. Broader Impact: This workshop has the potential of impacting science learning of numerous students often denied access to quality instruction and experiences in STEM fields. Since the D. C. public schools, the target audience for this pilot workshop, serve a student body that is predominantly African American, the interactions that develop from this workshop will heavily impact underrepresented minorities. It is expected that the emergence of some successful local partnerships will provide both a spur and guiding model for additional outreach programs in the area. The long-term plan for this pilot project is to replicate similar workshops annually as part of the ASBMB National meetings in the cities where these will be hosted (in the immediate future are San Diego, CA, April, 2012 and Boston, MA, April 2013). Successful alumni of the first workshop will be invited to speak at later workshops. In addition, a survey of teachers in attendance immediately following the workshop and nine months later will be conducted to assess the impact on their teaching. Teachers that receive seed funds will be required to provide assessment of student learning and interest in science as part of their project reports. The outcomes of this workshop will be published in ASBMB Today and disseminated on the ASBMB website.