Putting Research in the Classroom: A Partnership for Curriculum Building

Many science classes today are taught in a historical context as if scientific discovery was something that only happened in the past with textbooks focused on presenting facts and equations without conveying that the process of science is to ask and answer questions. To address these deficiencies we have developed a science outreach course to unite high school science educators with young researchers for a series of workshops to develop teaching modules. The modules connect specific textbook concepts and state standards to current materials science research in hands-on learning experiences for high school students. The idea is to make math, science, technology, and engineering concepts more exciting, accessible, and relevant to high school students through interactions with diverse researchers and instruction from curriculum based on cutting-edge materials science research. The goal is to demonstrate that science is a living, active process of inquiry and questioning; not simply a litany of facts, figures, and historical anecdotes. The ultimate aim is for the teaching modules prepared in this course to be packaged and prepared for dissemination to schools outside the immediate vicinity in order to expand the reach to communities underrepresented in the sciences.