Science Made SensibleUniversity 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 http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/

*Mean% of low-performing students on 2008 8th 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

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

For More Information

Visit our website:

www.smsmiami.org