Preparing Middle and High School Students for Careers in Science and Health: Partnerships from the Chicago Area (cont.)

Students from Roosevelt Middle School answer a question in the Chicago Regional Science Bowl at Argonne National Laboratory.

The project was designed to use Internet-based connectivity because of its availability and flexibility within the local schools and its potential for low-cost operation. Its ubiquitous high-speed availability across Argonne’s campus also makes most lab facilities accessible for conferencing.

The program has conducted two types of conference sessions. In one, scientists introduce themselves, invite students into their labs, show a slice of their cutting-edge research, converse with students and answer questions. In the second, students present their science fair or assigned class project (such as making rockets or musical instruments) to a team of three to four scientists who give them guidance, feedback and encouragement. (In a session at Payton High School, the Argonne scientists selected the winners for the top science projects.) A natural dialogue ensues and scientists discuss their educational and career backgrounds, their research, and also their hobbies and outside interests.

Each session has its own advantages. The first can highlight new technologies and what scientists do, while the second is usually very engaging and personal for the students.

Implementing the program

The first 18 months of the program presented a number of challenges that were tackled with varying degrees of success. These issues fall into several main categories, including:

• Connection quality,
• Conference content, and
• Follow-through to maintaining content quality.

Since the project uses Internet-based connectivity, the quality of video and audio transmission can never be assumed. Two important factors affecting the quality of service are institutional firewalls and heavy traffic on Chicago’s Internet backbones. In the first six months of the program, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) worked with its technology provider to mitigate these issues, which allowed for connectivity at eight schools. Due to a change in a CPS technology contractor, only two schools participated during the second year of the program, but six to eight schools will be prepared to participate during the 2005-2006 school year.

The technology coordinators at each school and at CPS headquarters were extremely important in making the technology work, by opening firewalls, constantly testing lines, and scheduling sessions.

Beyond technological considerations, many additional factors contribute to the quality of a distance learning session, some of which include:

• availability and selection of scientists (a large pool is essential so that the same individuals are not featured too frequently);

• the mix of pre-recorded media (short video clips, pictures, Powerpoints) and equipment (cameras, whiteboard, document camera) needed to enhance the conference, all of which minimize the “talking head” effect and make for a more varied and interesting session; and

• preparation on the school end, such as the need when doing student presentations to send any descriptions, drawings and photos to Argonne at least 24-48 hours in advance, so that scientists have the opportunity to review them.

The content of any particular session is dictated by the subject level, type of students, type of conference and the class curriculum. Matching and customizing these elements is a constant balancing act between classroom needs and available Argonne project resources. Teacher feedback is vital in pulling all these elements together, keeping the schedule on track, prepping the students and following through on evaluation. A continuous goal is to have this cadre of teachers meet with Argonne staff to better understand each other’s strengths and limitations and fine-tune the program.

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