Center for Science and the Schools continues to have impact on science education

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As the world of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is constantly changing, so too is the world of science education. Penn State’s Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS) in the College of Education has worked for nearly two decades to provide educators with the tools needed to engage Pennsylvania’s students in authentic science and engineering.

The center, which was established in 2004, collaborates with current Penn State STEM faculty to provide research-based programs for K-12 classroom teachers, giving the teachers a chance to learn the methods and practices being used in today’s STEM fields and apply them to the lessons they teach their students. This collaborative work focuses on the translation of STEM research to K-12 education to make tangible, real-world impacts, which is becoming an increasingly important component of grant-funded research.

CSATS offers a range of programs including one-day workshops, week-long summer workshops and a seven-week immersive program that blends lab work with professional development.

“Many educators were in science classes as part of their undergraduate experience many years ago, but science has changed by leaps and bounds,” said Kathy Hill, CSATS director and associate professor of science education. “Our programs contribute to promoting current reforms in science education calling for instruction to include the actual practices of scientists and engineers. The majority of teachers did not engage in research practices as part of their preservice preparation program. By coming to CSATS’ programs, they get to interface with experts that they typically wouldn’t have access to. They’re learning cutting-edge approaches that scientists and engineers are using in their work as well as ways to bring these practices into their classrooms.”

It has had a tangible impact, both on schools and on securing funding for research.

CSATS has assisted STEM researchers with developing Broader Impacts (BI) plans for the National Science Foundation and other federal funding agencies, writing grant proposal narratives and securing support letters that enhance the competitiveness of proposals and ultimately lead to the development of K-12 STEM education programs.

CSATS’ collaborations with researchers have spanned across all Penn State STEM colleges, the College of the Liberal Arts, the College of Education and multiple Penn State campuses. Over the past 19 years, CSATS has contributed to writing 322 grant proposals that have pursued more than $294.7 million in funding. Of the proposals submitted, 73 grants were awarded totaling $85.8 million.

By leveraging these technical research grants, CSATS has designed and implemented BI programs involving more than 130 STEM faculty along with numerous post-doctoral fellows and graduate students across the university. Based upon this work of translating STEM research to K-12 education, CSATS was recognized for its significant contributions to BI work by receiving the 2022 Enduring Achievement Award from the Center for Advancing Research Impacts in Society.

Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences; director, Center for Pollinator Research, Insect Biodiversity Center; and associate director for research, Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science, has partnered with CSATS on a pair of projects funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Both projects were designed to help K-12 educators incorporate research on pollinators and agricultural systems into their classrooms and are just the latest examples of a fruitful and robust working relationship between the Center for Pollinator Research and CSATS that began in 2012.

“When I tell my colleagues at other colleges and universities about our partnership with CSATS, they are very envious!” Grozinger said. “We are so fortunate to have CSATS at Penn State — it really amplifies and expands the scope of our research programs and helps us reach the next generation of scientists, growers, land managers and policymakers.”

Raymond Najjar, professor of oceanography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, said that "feedback I received from the National Science Foundation has made it clear to me that explicit inclusion of CSATS personnel and activities has substantially increased my success rate on proposals. Dr. Hill is an engaged and insightful collaborator with a devoted team that runs valuable programs, such as the CSATS Summer Research Experiences for Teachers (RET). Working with a teacher in this program advanced my own research and produced benefits in the classroom."

Susan Stewart, teaching professor (aerospace engineering) and associate director of undergraduate studies in the College of Engineering, was seeking partners at Penn State in 2009 for a grant called “Wind for Schools,” a K-12 outreach program. Stewart found CSATS and initiated the conversation that has led to the two collaborating ever since.

Since 2012, Penn State has hosted the Pennsylvania KidWind Challenge with over 1,000 participating students in grades four through 12, which expanded this past year to include regional competitions at three Penn State campuses — Altoona, Greater Allegheny and Hazelton. The University Park campus hosts the statewide competition with top winning teams going on to a national competition. The KidWind program has also grown to include a Pennsylvania Solar Energy Challenge, part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sunshot Initiative, which aims to make solar energy affordable for all Americans.

“I have learned so much from my experiences working with the incredible people at CSATS,” Stewart said. “They worked with me through the process of developing content for teachers and provided valuable feedback on my delivery as well as helped me to focus on the unique needs of this specific audience. I feel this experience has made me a better educator overall. It has encouraged me to be more in tune with my audience in designing my lesson content for my classes and also to be more open to trying new educational approaches and technology.”

Neela Yennawar, Huck Leadership Fellow; director, X-ray Crystallography Facility; director, Automated Biological Calorimetry Facility; and research professor in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, first became involved with CSATS as a graduate student working on polio viral protein structure-function studies.

Most recently, she partnered with CSATS on the teacher professional development program, "Shaping Authentic Practices by Engaging in Modeling of a Topic with Teachers to Explore Research in Science (SHAPE MATTERS),” funded through a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences Health Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Collaborating with CSATS has provided an amazing educational opportunity for molecular modeling in schools and exposure to the state-of-the-art research capabilities in X-ray crystallography and molecular interactions studies,” Yennawar said. “It excites teachers and their high school students as they marvel at the three-dimensional structures of the many molecules of life and the cool function they set in motion. The molecular stories the students work on during the school year and present at the end of the year symposium could steer them toward a career in the health and life sciences.”

It's that — the desire to show students what career paths are possible through STEM fields, that drives CSATS’ actions every day, say its staff. It also ties into Penn State’s unique status among Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities and the responsibility that comes with it.

“It’s the land-grant mission, it’s the ‘We Are,’” said Jeff Remington, CSATS outreach liaison. “There is hardly a corner of Pennsylvania that we have not served in some way, shape or form. To date, we have worked with approximately 1,100 PA K-12 educators, which has enabled us to reach 10,000s of precollege students in classrooms and informal learning contexts across the commonwealth.

“The experience of science education from when current teachers were K-12 students is often very different from what is happening in the research labs at Penn State," Remington noted. "How can we give kids a sense of the opportunities that are out there unless we let them engage in science and engineering in ways that illustrate what these fields are really like?

“Building programs that translate the work of STEM researchers to K-12 educators ultimately impacts the learning and, for some, the career trajectory of thousands of precollege students.”