Program Description
Three major components of the program include a two-week summer workshop for fellows and teachers, 30 days of hands-on instruction in the classroom during the academic year, and professional development for fellows and teachers.
Summer Workshop for STFs and Partner Teachers
The summer workshop prepares teachers and fellows to work towards a successful and rewarding school year. Participants spend two weeks developing their partnering relationships and planning lessons and activities for the upcoming academic year. Specifically, STFs and partner teachers:
- participate in team-building activities;
- work to clearly define the roles and expectations of each member of the team;
- participate in activities to clarify the nature of hands-on and inquiry-based instruction;
- participate in VSVS (Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science) activities that explore several science concepts for each of the middle school grade levels;
- focus on curriculum alignment with pertinent local standards for math and science;
- form partnerships by meeting with the principals of their schools and the directors of their laboratories;
- form content teams to develop lessons, activities, and demonstrations that correlate with the curriculum;
- demonstrate lessons to fellow teachers and STFs in preparation for instruction in middle school science classes in the fall; and
- collaborate with local resources to increase scientific knowledge and develop a sense of scientific community.
An important goal of Scientist-in-the-Classroom Partnership Program is to build and support strong STF-teacher partnerships. A two-week summer workshop provides an opportunity for fellows and teachers to establish a working relationship, plan lessons and activities, and hone classroom management and teaching skills.
Academic Year Program
The most exciting part of the program takes place in fall in the middle school classrooms when the fellows and teachers present the hands-on lessons they prepared during the summer workshop. Students are thrilled to have the additional attention and the opportunity to conduct hands-on experiments under the guidance of real scientists.
STFs are required to spend a minimum of 5 hours per week delivering classroom instruction, which translates to 1 teaching day per week at the assigned school. Two hours of time outside of the classroom is designated for planning and preparation. The majority of the in-classroom time is spent teaching laboratory activities with partner teachers. These lessons come from a variety of sources including the summer planning workshop, VSVS lessons, teacher-developed lessons, or STF created lessons. Most lessons are planned collaboratively with partner teachers in specific content areas during the summer workshop.
STFs focus on working with partner teachers to develop and implement hands-on, inquiry-based activities; to provide classroom demonstrations; and to assist in tutoring of students and directing student research projects. In the current program year, the focus is entirely on the middle school level, using a model that has been highly successful from the initial year of the NSF GK-12 Program at Bass Middle School.
Monthly STF Seminar
STFs attend monthly two-hour seminars with the program coordinator in addition to the one day per week working in the school and two hours of planning time. The seminar includes presentations from other program personnel, guest speakers from the three university partners, discussions concerning education methods, and a plethora of other engaging activities. The seminar is designed to provide a forum for feedback from the STFs, follow their progress in the program, provide reflection time for the teaching experience, and acquire feedback from the fellows to improve the program design for future cohorts. These sessions are also designed to give the STFs assistance in any activity related to the classroom. If STFs require help with individual concerns relating to the program, they can request it during seminar time by speaking directly with the program coordinator.
