Science Made Sensible University of Miami Fellows: A. Hayward*, J. Indorf*, C. Margolin, B. Mason*, T. Plantan, D. Ryan, D. Scheib, N. Soffer, L. Vaisman, J. Verhagen Teachers: D. Brown*, T. Davis, G. Desravins, R. Durrant, I. Franck, D. Jones*, K. McCarty, N. Palacios, A. Parker, V. Williams M. Gaines PI

Presentation Outline Goals for SMS How do we integrate graduate fellows & their research into the classroom ? Specific examples –Individual cases –Collaborative efforts How do we measure success? Challenges

Goals for SMS Improve communication of graduate students’ research Provide a “resident scientist” for middle school teachers Expose middle school students to scientific research

SMS School Demographics Reading*Math*Science*Free/Reduced Lunch Percent Minority 59.6%56.6%76.4%85%99.2% School demographics *Mean% of low-performing students on th grade FCAT Mean indicators for the five SMS urban middle schools.

Integrating Fellows’ Research Two week summer workshop –Align graduate student research with Sunshine State Standards –Polish graduate student communication skills – ability to communicate advanced topics to a lay audience

Coral Reef Research Watch a video about Florida’s coral reefs Observe life stages of coral in aquaria Conduct experiments investigating larval settlement and growth of juvenile corals Settlement Experiment: 1. Effect of light Growth Experiments: 1. Effect of light 2. Effect of food

Population Genetics Research PowerPoint presentation on evolutionary genetics of small mammals DNA extraction demonstration Estimating population size activity

“Here Comes the Sun” Students as Researchers Students use scientific method to be researchers Solar panel and multi-meter at each school Light data collected using light logger Solar panel used to convert light data to power Data compared across schools Compare power usage of school to solar energy.

Formative Evaluation Graduate Students SMS Fellow Non-SMS Fellow TeachersSMS Non-SMS Students SMS Teacher with Fellow SMS Teacher without Fellow Non-SMS Teacher

Challenges Very short segments of the curriculum related to graduate student areas of research FCAT preparations restrict amount of time available for incorporating graduate student research Teacher turnover Some areas of research, even after simplification, can be difficult for the students Assessment – surveys and FCAT scores

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