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The Jackson Laboratory, a leading mammalian genetics research institution in Bar Harbor, Maine, has an 83-year history of educating and training students through mentored research internships. Our current programs include the residential Summer Student Program and its high school participants, the Academic-Year Program for local Maine high school students, the Mastering Science internship for pre-service science and math teachers enrolled in the UMaine Master of Science in Teaching program, and the Sabbatical Program for Maine in-service science and math teachers.
There is a critical need nationally to improve secondary-school science teaching and to motivate students, especially those from minority and economically disadvantaged groups, to study science in college. The Jackson Laboratories is addressing this need by challenging students and teachers to engage in independent, cutting-edge research through hands-on, hypothesis-driven projects as a member of a sponsoring scientist's laboratory team. Our goal is to encourage students to understand the nature of science, to develop skills necessary to become independent inquirers about the natural world, and to use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science in their future careers and daily lives.
Student programs: Through the support of our HHMI precollege grant and other foundation and federal support, our student mentorship programs have grown dramatically in size and diversity. The summer-long, residential Summer Student Program saw high school applications increase from 27 in 2001 to 120 in 2007, with 11 high school students participating in 2007. Enhanced recruiting has increased minority high school applications from 1 in 2001 to 24 in 2007, which led to a record 8 minority high school participants in 2006 and 6 in 2007. The Academic-Year Program normally enrolls 4-5 high school students.
Teacher programs: Our Mastering Science program for pre-service science teachers began with HHMI support three years ago and has since mentored 10 student teachers enrolled in the UMaine MST program. As part of this semester-long internship, pre-service teachers develop guided inquiry-based
curricula which they share with fellow educators statewide at an annual math and science teacher conference sponsored by UMaine. These curricula will be implemented in present or future classrooms. In 2006 we expanded the Mastering Science program to include Maine in-service science teachers, with the first teacher participating in Spring 2006 and 2 more in Spring 2007.
Professional, third-party evaluation for our mentorship programs is provided by Amie Gellen, Lecturer in Mathematics Education in the UMaine Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Assistant Director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education Research. The Program Director for the teacher training programs is Jon R. Geiger, Ph.D., TJL Director of Educational Programs, in collaboration with Susan McKay, Ph.D., Director of the UMaine MST Program. The Summer Student Program and Academic-Year Program are also directed by Dr. Geiger and are overseen by an eight-member Education Committee chaired by Senior Staff Scientist David E. Harrison, Ph.D. All training and education programs are overseen by Barbara B. Knowles, Ph.D., Senior Staff Scientist and Vice President for Education/Training and External Scientific Collaborations.
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