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Program Director:
Dr. Samuel Silverstein
Program Director John C. Dalton Professor and Chairman
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Department of Physiology
630 West 168th Street, Room 11-511
New York, NY 10032
2123053546
scs3@columbia.edu
The links below describe the outcomes and challenges this grantee experienced and what resources they are willing to share.
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1994 grant
1999 grant
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The goal of Columbia University's Summer Research Program for Secondary School Science Teachers is to enhance interest and performance in science of students in New York City-area schools. Minorities underrepresented in the sciences comprise the majority of students in almost every public school in which the Program's participants teach. The Program engages middle and high school science teachers in hands-on laboratory research for two consecutive summers under the mentorship of a member of Columbia's faculty. To help teachers connect their research experiences and their roles as educators, they meet weekly for seminars on science and science education, training in classroom uses of computers and the Internet, and coaching in pedagogy and in development of lesson plans that encompass concepts, technologies, and materials associated with their research. Through these meetings they form a professional learning community. Studies of the effects of teacher participation on student interest (measured by engagement in Intel-type science research projects and science clubs), and achievement in science (measured by passing a New York State Regents science exam), now in their 9th year, show improvements in all three parameters that are temporally related to participation in Columbia's Program. For example, in the academic year prior to entry of teachers into this Program, ~32% of their students passed a New York State Regents science exam compared to ~37% of students of other teachers in the same schools and science departments. In the two years following their completion of this Program, ~43 and ~48% of their students passed the Regents science exam, compared to ~32 and ~37%, respectively, of students in science classes of other teachers in the same school.
We plan three new initiatives for the next grant period. First, in collaboration with the New York Hall of Science and the Brooklyn and Staten Island High School Superintendency (BASIS) we will train teachers in the use of kits for hands-on life and physical sciences labs. Second, we will train Columbia graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to provide in-school support for participating teachers and their students. Third, we will expand our evaluation research to include the impact of kits on teachers and students, and observations of graduate students/fellows on teachers' classroom practices.
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