Jeremy Wojdak
$599,447
Janet Carlson
Stanford University
California
Biological Sciences (BIO)
The INterSPecies Interactions Research Experience (INSPIRE) BIORETs site award to Stanford University will create partnerships between Stanford scientists and eight public school science teachers per year for eight weeks in the summer with continued classroom support throughout the year. Three cohorts of teachers will be recruited for the summers of 2023 – 2025 for a total of 24 teachers during the award. Recruitment will focus on middle and high school teachers from the Bay Area of California with special emphasis on teachers serving large percentages of marginalized students. The goals of this program are to provide research experiences to teachers that enhance their confidence and skills in the lab with support to transfer aspects of the research experiences into their classrooms to improve student learning. Teachers will conduct research on the interactions between species, such as food web relationships or disease transmission, which are important for human health and natural ecosystems. Teachers will also participate in professional learning experiences that enhance collaboration within the cohort and application of their research to classroom settings. Participating scientists will visit classrooms to interact with and affirm students in their science learning journey. Outcomes of this project will be assessed through surveys, interviews, and assessments to determine if these authentic science experiences for teachers resulted in changes in teaching practice as well as improved learning outcomes and greater engagement for students. The Bay Area of California has tremendous wealth inequity, where enriching academic experiences are not equally available. This program will enact and inspire increased distribution of lab-based experiences for teachers and students in schools with more limited resources. Species interactions are critically important for human and ecosystem health. Preparing the next generation of scientists to understand the interdependency of species will enable the US scientific workforce to tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges, like disease, food scarcity, and biodiversity conservation. The goals of this program are to enhance teacher content and pedagogical knowledge, scientific skill sets, and confidence through authentic research experiences in Stanford University’s Department of Biology laboratories and professional learning experiences with Stanford’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching. Ethical conduct of research and harassment prevention training are required of all project participants, including laboratory mentors. The project will use www.nsfetap.org to recruit and document participation, with targeted recruitment of teachers from districts serving majority low-income, underrepresented populations. Teachers will conduct authentic research in world-leading scientific laboratories and participate in professional learning experiences focused on developing content knowledge, pedagogy, and translating their experiences into lesson plans for their classrooms through an Education Transfer Plan. Partnering scientists will receive mentorship training and will visit these public-school classrooms to interact with teachers and students throughout the academic year. Funding includes a teacher stipend, conference travel for the teacher to present their summer research, and classroom funds to implement their Education Transfer Plans. Example research projects include ecosystem interactions like predator-prey or tree-fungi relationships, infectious disease spread like COVID-19 transmission, and how organisms adapt to climate change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.