 | By bringing together students who may never have met before, the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program helps create a community of science enthusiasts, who can then share their energy and skills with other students at Hill Regional Career High School. |
'Summer camp' helps future researchers hone scientific skills
In the basement of the Swing Space on a recent summer afternoon, a group of 15 young scientists were investigating several small plastic bags containing soil, fragments of bone and some other "mysterious" materials.
Working in small groups, they removed samples of the soil from the bags, discussed its appearance, used test strips to determine its chemical composition and recorded their preliminary findings.
The scientists were reminded that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was counting on their expertise. The soil samples, they were told, had been left behind by an EPA laboratory technician who had unexpectedly quit and hadn't been heard from since.
The EPA scenario was just hypothetical, but the young scientists -- all rising juniors from New Haven's Hill Regional Career High School -- went about their investigation demonstrating qualities that may one day make them truly expert researchers: curiosity, attention to detail, a methodical approach, thoroughness and a willingness to collaborate with their peers.
The students are honing their scientific skills as participants in the Science Collaborative Hands-on Learning and Research program, known as S.C.H.O.L.A.R. Now in its fifth year, the intensive, three-week residential summer program is part of Yale's educational partnership with Hill Regional Career High School, a magnet school for students from the Greater New Haven area who are interested in science, health, business or computer science. Through that partnership, the high school students and their teachers come to Yale throughout the year to take courses, work in campus laboratories and collaborate with students, faculty and researchers. Yale faculty and staff have also assisted with curriculum development at Career High.
Established by faculty from the School of Medicine, Yale College and Career High School, the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program provides extended educational opportunities for students who have a strong interest in science and health fields, according to Dr. Forrester Lee, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and one of the program's founders.
"We felt that motivated students in science would benefit from extra learning experiences that we didn't always have the time to provide them," says Angel Tangney, a science teacher at the high school and another S.C.H.O.L.A.R. founder, who is helping coordinate this year's program. "We wanted to work with Yale to come up with a program that would be a sort of summer camp for kids interested in science and health. Over the years, the program has grown and been fine-tuned, and it helps our students maintain their interest in science and explore the subject in a way that is exciting and fun."
Unlike many summer programs for students, S.C.H.O.L.A.R. is unique in that all of its participants come from the same school, says Lee. "We take a group of students -- some of whom have not met each other before -- and join them together as a community for an intensive summer experience. They then go back as a community to their high school, where they become energizers for the school by bringing their enthusiasm and the approach to learning they acquired in S.C.H.O.L.A.R. They learn to work together and problem-solve in a group, and they then stimulate and share those skills with their high school classmates."
The students generally begin the program in the summer following their freshman year and continue through their senior year. S.C.H.O.L.A.R. participants live in campus dormitories during the week (this year they are in the Swing Space) and return to their homes on weekends. In its pilot year, only 15 students were enrolled. Today about 60 students participate in the free program, which is funded by grants to the School of Medicine's Office of Multicultural Affairs from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and by an HHMI grant to Yale College.
"Students apply for the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program, so we know these are young people who are truly committed to learning," says Claudia Merson, coordinator of public school partnerships in the Office of New Haven and State Affairs, who helps run the program. "The courses they take here are aligned with what they will be doing in science courses when they return to school, so they help prepare the students for those courses and give them a bit of head start. They learn here how to think like scientists or researchers, developing study and laboratory skills that they can use well beyond high school. Some of our graduates, for example, are applying these skills as they work their way through college with part-time jobs in their university's laboratories."
Students entering sophomore year study basic biology and take part in Problem-based Learning (PBL) workshops designed to help them develop their investigative skills and encourage them to collaborate with others as they think about solutions to real-world problems. Rising juniors take a chemistry course and also take part in PBL workshops. (The fictitious EPA scenario was part of a PBL workshop for juniors taught by Liza Cariaga-Lo, an assistant dean of diversity programs at Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and an assistant clinical professor at the Child Study Center). Soon-to-be seniors study biotechnology and are also offered intensive guidance on the college application process.
A s the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program's college preparation instructor this summer, Christina Lee, a senior at Yale, heads daily discussions with the seniors on topics ranging from choosing prospective schools to interview and resume-writing skills to how to apply for financial aid.
"While all of our students are college-bound, applying for college can be a seemingly overwhelming project at times," says Lee. "My goal is to familiarize students with the application process and maximize their competitiveness as applicants next year. Students also meet with me outside of class so that we can review their files and accomplishments one-on-one; this way, I can better understand their needs and backgrounds and help them on an individual basis."
Lee accompanies the seniors on field trips to area colleges and universities, including Wesleyan and Southern Connecticut State. Senior Alex Avila, who aspires to be a pediatrician and would prefer to attend a college in Connecticut, says one of these trips was an eye-opener for him.
"I hadn't ever heard of Wesleyan before and I discovered that I really liked it," he says. "Now I'm considering applying there." Avila says that his experience in S.C.H.O.L.A.R. has also convinced him to apply to Yale. In addition to the scientific knowledge he has gained, Avila says he has also benefited from a writing course offered to the seniors by freelance journalist and Quinnipiac University instructor Meg Barone, which is geared to helping the students express themselves clearly.
Other activities for S.C.H.O.L.A.R. students include occasional field trips and visits by guest speakers.
"One activity the students participated in was a tour by the New Haven Environmental Justice Group of waste sites around New Haven, where they learned about some of the city's environmental issues," says Otherine Neisler, associate director of Yale's Teacher Preparation Program, who is serving as the summer master to the students and helps design the curriculum for the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program. The students also made excursions to New Haven biotechnology laboratories.
Many of the guest speakers discuss how they achieved their current positions in the science or health professions. These include staff from the State of Connecticut's forensic laboratory, an electrical engineer from Otis Elevator Company and members of the Coaches and Trainers Collaborative, a Hartford-based network of independent business owners, who talked to the students about setting and achieving goals.
All S.C.H.O.L.A.R. students also choose from several mini-courses taught by resident assistants, who are Yale undergraduates and students from other colleges and universities. This year's offerings are karate, dance, acting, arts and crafts, and "Brain Juice," a course requiring students to use their analytical skills. Participants are also afforded time each afternoon at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium and have access to Yale's libraries.
According to Neisler, the program's focus on combining intensive science education with both educational and entertaining activities makes it very popular with the high school students. She notes that one field trip, for the sheer fun of it, was to Six Flags amusement park.
Staff for the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program include both Yale faculty and instructors from other schools. Yale professor Connie Allen is teaching this year's chemistry class; Jonathan Morris, a professor at Middlesex Community-Technical College, is the instructor for the biotechnology class; and A.J. Scheetz, a former Yale researcher and now a teacher at Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, is teaching the biology course. The resident assistants in the program assist these instructors in their science courses as well as run or assist in PBL workshops. In addition, three Career High School teachers -- biology teachers Vanessa Reid and Funmilayo Ukah and chemistry teacher Manidipa Mukherjee -- are serving as teaching assistants this summer.
"In the classes we are enriched by the experience of being able to work alongside our students, rather than having to be at the front of the class and having the responsibility of grading them," explains Tangney, who has previously been a teaching assistant in the program. "We are more like student teachers. So the program is a valuable staff development course for us."
Many of the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. students say that they decided to apply for the program based on the recommendations of their science teachers and former participants. All agree that the experience has well prepared them for their upcoming science and health classes, but when asked about their favorite aspects of the S.C.H.O.L.A.R. program, their answers were as diverse as their future goals.
Adnan Khalid, who has been in S.C.H.O.L.A.R. three years, says the opportunity to experience college life has helped him gain insights into what it will be like to have a roommate, form friendships with new classmates and regulate his time appropriately.
"Here we are constantly in situations where we are interacting with other people, and I've become friends with students I didn't really know before at high school," explains Khalid, who plans to pursue a career as a doctor.
Junior Etienne Holder, who hopes to become a cardiac surgeon, has especially enjoyed the hands-on work in her chemistry class. Her classmate Ashleigh Huckabey, who aspires to be an obstetrician and gynecologist, has discovered that solving problems is easier when done in collaboration with others. Senior Ruben Nazario says the program has helped him more clearly define his interests in the health field, and has convinced him to pursue a career that links psychology and communications.
First-year S.C.H.O.L.A.R. participant Allen Jenkins, a junior who plans a career involving mathematics, admits that the program is "hard work and is very challenging."
"But I like a challenge," he continues. "I'm learning a lot and will have a lot to tell my friends."
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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