 | Peabody NSF Graduate Fellow Monique Scott (right) assists a New Haven student with a Peabody BioAction Lab research project. |
Five Yale graduate students are working to instill their own love of science in young New Haven students as the first recipients of National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Teaching Fellowships from the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
The program -- funded by an $879,174 grant from the NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program -- seeks to expand the Peabody's existing science literacy initiative in the New Haven Public Schools by promoting collaboration between graduate students and teachers. It is coordinated by Yale scientists Michael Donoghue, director of the Peabody, and Leonard Munstermann, the museum's associate curator of entomology.
The NSF program is designed to benefit both the graduate students and the classrooms in which they teach. The GK-12 Fellows are a resource for teachers by providing scientific expertise and access to Peabody Museum resources, and the graduate students serve as role models for students by showing them the excitement of scientific discovery and sparking a sense of wonder about the natural world. Through their work with the youngsters, the graduate students also hone their communication and teaching skills.
The five Yale students chosen as the first GK-12 Fellows represent five disciplines relevant to the Peabody's focus on biodiversity and human health. They are: Monique Scott '04 Ph.D., anthropology; Kellie Heckman '05 Ph.D., ecology and evolutionary biology; Scott Teper '04 M.P.H., epidemiology and public health; Leigh Baker '04 M.S., forestry and environmental studies; and Esther Seibold '04 Ph.D., nursing.
To prepare them for their new roles, the GK-12 Teaching Fellows attended an orientation last spring which included presentations on the museum's history and collections, sessions on inquiry-based science by curriculum and teaching specialists, and tours of the Peabody by managers of the research collections. In addition, several Yale scientists led special sessions on their research. The latter ranged from presentations on the use of museum collections in understanding biodiversity and human health to demonstrations of exciting ways to communicate complex scientific concepts.
The graduate students, who began working in middle school classrooms in May, bring a variety of perspectives on the importance of science to their new roles.
Heckman, who has conducted field research on lemurs in Madagascar, believes that "introducing science early with an engaging, interactive appoach encourages students to remain interested in it throughout their life." She adds, "Science also provides a structure for critical thinking through hypothesis testing."
Scott, whose dissertation examines how the science of human evolution is communicated to diverse audiences in museums, stresses "the importance for scientists to be continually conscious of the way in which science and society are interconnected, and the ways in which scientists are connected to their communities at large." She notes that teaching students about the interconnected relationship of the organisms in the natural world through biodiversity programs encourages them to "think about the interconnections between science and society."
For Siebold, who is doing doctoral research on the relationship between health services and the public school setting, teaching students about the relationship between biodiversity and human health is "an essential component of successful school reform. ... Making children aware of the relationship between the environment and health at a young age increases the likelihood that they will develop respect for both."
Graduate students interested in applying for an NSF fellowship for the 2004-2005 academic year should visit the website at www.peabody.yale.edu/education/fellows/pages/about.html. The deadline is Jan. 12.
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