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Inaugural Class of Socrates Fellows Finds
Science Teaching Outreach Program 'Transforming'

Ioana Patringenaru | March 9, 2009

Socrates Teaching Program (Photo / Victor W. Chen)
UCSD graduate student Alfred Chappell (right) helps a Southwest High School students figure out a cricket's different body parts.

On a recent afternoon, Alfred Chappell, a graduate student at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine, walked several students at Southwest High School in San Diego through the finer points of cricket dissection. Chappell, who usually works with sophisticated apparatus in a UCSD lab, seemed at ease as he went from table to table, answering questions, making sure students were holding their instruments correctly, and quizzing students on the names of the insects’ different body parts.

Chappell is one of nine graduate students enrolled in UCSD’s first class of Socrates fellows, funded by a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The program’s goals include providing training for graduate students; enriching the experience of high school science teachers and students; and, ultimately, attracting more high school students to higher education and a career in the sciences.

The program started last summer and, so far, the results have been outstanding, said Maarten Chrispeels, a UCSD biology professor and co-principal investigator of the Socrates grant.

“It’s clear that this is a transforming experience in the lives of the students,” Chrispeels said. “They will never be the same.”

The program pairs high school teachers with graduate students working on their doctorates. The fellows spend a weekly total of about 15 hours on the program, including one day in a high school classroom. The hope is that the grad students will inspire high schoolers to study science down the road. Grad students also will share their knowledge of science with teachers, who in turn will share classroom management tips.

Socrates Teaching Program (Photo / Victor W. Chen)
A student compares a dissected cricket with an anatomical sketch during an after-school activity.

Kim Barrett, UCSD’s dean of Graduate Studies, and Chappell’s advisor, said she hopes that the high school students who work with Chappell will start thinking about scientists in a different way. “We have to change the face of what these kids think a scientist looks like, because they think it doesn’t look like them,” she said.

At least several Southwest High students said that Chappell’s presence in their classroom has helped them change their point of view. Anaiz Alegria, 16, said going to college was scary for her. But after talking to Chappell, she said she can now see herself on a university campus. “I like it because you can ask him about his experiences,” she said. “You can ask anything about college. It really helped a lot.”

Daisy Cortez, 18, said she asked Chappell about college majors, getting a job after graduation and how to get work experience while in school. “It’s really helpful,” she said. She added she is interested in a career in the medical field. She has applied at all campuses in the UC system, including UCSD, as well as San Diego State University.  

Meanwhile, in the past school year, Chappell and the other Socrates fellows have learned to think about how to make science accessible to students. They also have learned that motivating high schoolers can be difficult, Chrispeels said.

Chappell works with science teacher David Buse at Southwest High. In addition to regular school hours, the two lead an after-school club dedicated to studying the different phyla of life—hence the dissected of crickets. This past school year, Chappell said he has learned how to interact with students and make science accessible to them. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot,” he said.

Socrates Teaching Program (Photo / Victor W. Chen)
Teacher David Buse (right) answers students' questions.

Barrett agrees. “This experience has really crystallized his thinking,” she said of Chappell. Over the past few months, hel has applied for a faculty position at a teaching institution. He also has thought very carefully about how to use what he learned in the Socrates program in that job; how he could inspire undergraduates to do research; and how he could continue to do outreach work in schools, the dean said.

Barrett, Chrispeels and fellow Socrates coordinators are now interviewing graduate students who want to become next year’s Socrates fellows. Some of them will be working on a new NSF grant focused on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography that aims to develop a ninth-grade earth sciences curriculum for San Diego schools. The program also is adding chemistry and biochemistry recruits.

Barrett said some international students are interested in the fellowship, but can’t be funded through the NSF grant, which goes to U.S. citizens only. It would be lovely if a philanthropist would drop money out of the sky so we could expand this program,” she said.

 

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