The SPICE program connects graduate students with middle school science classes.
Photo/UF SPICE Program
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Program Puts Budding Researchers
into Public School Science Classes
By William Kanapaux
An innovative educational program that places University of Florida graduate students
in area middle schools to run hands-on science labs is now being funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a second round,
a move that gives the program the potential of becoming a permanent component of graduate training in the sciences.
The UF program, known as Science Partners in Inquiry-based Collaborative Education
(SPICE), initially received a three-year, $1.7 million grant from NSF. The agency announced in January that it will continue to fund
the program for an additional five years at $2 million.
UF's SPICE program is part of NSF's GK-12 program, which is designed to give graduate
students in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics a chance to improve communication and teaching
skills while enriching class instruction in public schools. The UF program focuses on ecosystem health and sustainability, and SNRE
provided the seed funding for developing the renewal application through its mini-grant program.
Beginning this fall, SPICE will fund eight graduate students for the academic year at
$30,000 each to work one-on-one with middle school science teachers twice a week, devising hands-on labs, said principle investigator
Doug Levey, a professor in the Department of Zoology.
"The program's purpose is two-fold," Levey said. "To train graduate students to become
better communicators and champions of outreach and to foster interest by adolescents in science and scientists."
Administrators in the Alachua County School District are keenly interested in whether
the program improves standardized test scores. But the program also is intended to keep more school kids interested in science.
"My personal view of the program's success is based on what it does to kids in classrooms
as they mature and decide what courses to take in high school and ultimately in their undergraduate studies," Levey said. "What does
it take to get kids turned on to science, technology, engineering, and math?"
That kind of success is especially critical for girls, who tend to shy away from science
and math courses during their middle school years, he said. Sparking interest in science during those critical years can have a
lasting effect.
"We picked ecosystem health because it has a good natural hook," Levey said. "Kids are
interested in the outside world, and there are issues in the news about ecosystem health. They hear about it and are connected with
it. Students can go outside and experience it with basic hands-on lessons."
SPICE is equally important as a graduate training program, he said. It helps graduate
students to become interested in community outreach. It also trains them to communicate more effectively with students and the
general public.
"Graduate students involved in the program are first and foremost research scientists,"
Levey said. "UF and other major research universities are understandably focused on research. Yet, researchers need to develop good
communication skills, and many are required to teach."
Many new graduate students are thrown into teaching assistantships with no training and
are only a couple of years removed from their own undergraduate careers, he said. Their training as communicators is often limited,
and they have to learn how to teach by the seat of their pants.
Levey's vision is to create a program at UF that teaches graduate students how to be good
communicators and teachers while inspiring them to use those skills within the community. If that effort can be institutionalized,
it will result in a high-profile training program that puts UF on the map, he said. No other major research university has that kind
of program in place.
Institutionalizing the program
The initial round of NSF funding, known as a Track 1 grant, came with few strings
attached, Levey said. The program secured Track 2 funding by showing that it was successful during its first three years and by
presenting a plan for institutionalizing the program through ongoing UF financial support that will phase in before NSF funding
expires in five years.
The SNRE mini-grant helped Levey get written commitments from the deans at five colleges
-- Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Agricultural and Life Sciences, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine. The program also has
commitments for support from the vice president of research, SNRE, and others.
In order to receive continued funding from NSF, the university had to specify the amount
that it will put into SPICE during the next five years and beyond, Levey said. UF-based funding will increase as NSF funding begins
to decrease over the five years.
The first three years of the program, covered under Track 1 funding, supported
fellowships for nine graduate students per year. Track 2 funding will support fellowships for eight graduate students per year, but
each student will enter a two-year commitment. The first year will involve a full-time fellowship similar to the initial program. In
the second year, the graduate students will receive supplementary funding to continue working in the schools at a smaller time
commitment alongside the same teacher and a new fellow, who will take on the primary responsibility of running the hands-on labs. In
other words, each year will bring eight new fellows who receive additional support from fellows in their second and final year of the program.
The new structure will provide greater continuity from one year to the next, Levey said.
"Teachers like the program, but it's sometimes hard for them to give up control of their classroom," he said. It's different from
having a student teacher in the classroom because the SPICE program involves more of a partnership. Teachers are asked to change
their teaching style to include more inquiry-based and hands-on approaches.
"The kids get excited," Levey said. "But, despite the noise and a sometimes
out-of-control feeling, there is a big payoff: a personal connection to scientific discovery."
Web Resource
SPICE program
Contact
Dr. Doug Levey
dlevey@zoo.ufl.edu
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