When I chose my topic I mentioned one of my objectives was to bring science professionals into the classroom to talk about their life experiences, and hopefully spark an interest in the minds of the students. I came across this organization, located in southern California.
http://www.biocom.org/workforce_development/science_education_speakers_bureau/
This doesn't do us any good here in Wisconsin, but this is EXACTLY the type of organization I'm looking for. I have to believe there are similar organizations here in Wisconsin. BIOCOM is the largest regional life science association in the world. They describe their mission statement as:
"To position the Southern California life sciences community to achieve individual and collective success on the world stage of scientific and technological innovation, and in the development of products that improve global health and quality of life".
One of the services they provide is the Science Education Speakers Bureau. This program matches industry professionals from academia, research, and business with K-12 classrooms. Theses volunteers speak to the students and provides science role models to students and teachers. This type of interaction between science professionals and students helps kids see the connection between the topics they cover, and future careers. For some students, this type of experience may be the tipping point in convincing them to pursue a career in a science field. The lectures are web archived, and lab supplies and learning kits are shipped to the class prior to the speaking engagement.
I hope to find a similar program here in Wisconsin.
We did this in our science class at UW Oshkosh last week, we went through some dirt from a Mastodon dig cite and then had a scientist from the dig talk to us on Skype about the dig and questions we had about things. I think we learned a lot and younger students would learn a ton.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think providing students with authentic experiences is priceless. Throughout my science education, I cannot recall a single guest speaker from the science field- with the exception of a doctor. On the other hand, I remember having business professionals come in all the time- especially with Junior Achievement, etc. I think that if there were more opportunities for students to learn from people in the science field (even through Skype or other "indirect" methods) and not just their teachers, more kids would realize how interesting and applicable science is.
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