The last thing most sixth-grade science students at Carver Elementary
expect when Meagan Williams opens up her portable "lab-in-a-box"
is to play dress up.
graduate student in biology at The University of Southern Mississippi,
hands someone a lab coat, a business suit, and a baseball uniform.
Then, Williams asks them to identify the scientist. When the class
finds out the answer is "all of them," the proverbial
light bulbs go off around the room.
kit, students are taught about the scientific method. Then they're
asked to think of all the ways the people they're dressed up as
might use science in their jobs," Williams said. "They
learn how all of us use science in our everyday thinking. You can
really see how excited the kids get when it all starts to click."
exercise is just one of many creative examples of how a partnership
between area school districts and Southern Miss graduate students
is reaching students in the sciences.
Funded by the
National Science Foundation, the Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12
Education (GK-12) program enables graduate students in the sciences
to serve as resources in K-12 schools.
As part of
the program, the graduate students conceptualize and construct portable
science kits, called "labs-in-a-box." These kits, about
25-30 in all and tailored for different subject areas, can be checked
out by participating teachers or taken into classrooms by the graduate
In all, 12
Southern Miss students working in five content areas - biology,
chemistry/biochemistry, polymer science, geology and mathematics
- serve six school districts: Hattiesburg, Forrest County AHS, and
Lamar, Forrest, Covington and Jefferson Davis counties.
fellows work with area teachers about 20 hours each week,"
said Dr. David Hebert, GK-12 project coordinator. "That involves
about 10 hours of prep time and about 10 hours of teaching."
The partnership works so well, Hebert said, because it allows teachers
to help graduate students with the teaching aspect, and it allows
graduate students to bring enhanced science content into the classroom.
One of the
more popular boxes with students is the DNA test kit. Using gels,
buffers, droppers and synthetic DNA, high school students can do
makeshift forensic tests right in the classroom. "It's a neat
test for kids who might have seen these kinds of things on TV crime
shows," said fellow Austin Trousdale, a Ph.D. candidate in
Dr. Susan Ross,
director of the Center for Science Education at Southern Miss, said
the labs-in-a-box can be used as early as kindergarten but are geared
toward fifth-graders and up. Through the NSF grant, the university
was able to purchase four laptops with Flex-Cams and projection
units. Using a software program called Starry Night, these projection
units can cast constellations on the classroom wall, Ross said.
"The GK-12 partnership has been met with nothing but enthusiasm
from all the students and teachers who participate," Ross said.
School principal Charles Lewis said the program gives teachers an
additional resource to tap into by networking with the graduate
students, who help plan activities, projects and other assignments.
One of those teachers was Addie Coleman, who teaches geometry at
Using one of
the math kits, she had students plan a trip to faraway cities using
maps, graphing paper and atlases. After plotting courses to their
selected destinations, students then wrote stories and produced
brochures about the cities they "visited."
done about five or six projects using hands-on applications in class.
All of them were designed to help students see how math can be used
in real life," Coleman said.
her aim as a graduate fellow is similar. Teaching at both Bassfield's
Carver Elementary and Prentiss' J.E. Johnson Elementary, Williams
strives to reach kids who've never had a "formal introduction
to science." Whether it's planting seeds, experimenting with
liquid nitrogen or creating silly putty and slime out of polymers,
she has one goal in mind with students.
thing is to 'wow' them with science," Williams said.
For more information
about the GK-12 program, contact Ross or Hebert at (601) 266-4739.