Scientist and Librarian STEM Education Collaborations

1. Scientist and Librarian STEM Education Collaborations Melanie J. Sellar Education Services and Reference Librarian Marymount College, California msellar@marymountpv.edu

2. Overview • Why we should care as librarians • What we can contribute as librarians • Working with K-12 teachers: sample programs • Working with K-12 students: sample programs • Advice for getting started

3. Why do we care? Aligns with librarian professional priorities and competencies: Contribute to institution’s learning mission Support institution’s research mission Expand our burgeoning role as educators Leverage our expertise as collaborators And as a bonus, we can assist in securing federal grant $$!

4. Why else do we care? Aligns with the core mission and the essence of libraries: Promoting inquiry Cultivating curiosity Supporting learning Remember: books are for use (Ranganathan)!

5. What can we do? Partner with STEM faculty to help meet education imperatives… • Design and execute outreach programs • Help translate research for audience • Cultivate appreciation of research • Provide academic and logistical support • Assist in identifying and arranging audiences

6. Why Outreach to K-12? The K-12 students/teachers audience provides the opportunity to… • Excite children about science and college • Connect/improve the K-12 to college pipeline • Help fulfill K-12 science education standards • Provide teacher professional development • Begin teaching science information literacy • Lay a foundation for science-educated voters

7. Context: SPIRIT What? • School Partnerships in Research & Information Technology • Community outreach program at UC Irvine Who? • K-14 students and teachers • 5,000 students over last 5 years Why? • Facilitate transfer of students into UC system How? • DACE: Day at College Experience (for students) • TILI: Teachers Information Literacy Institutes (for teachers)

8. Working with K-12 Teachers • SPIRIT as sponsor: • Half-day workshops held at UCI Libraries on Saturdays • Motivated by PD credit and/or own intrinsic interests • Other invitees: UCI credential candidates, local LMTs • Handled all logistics, curriculum, and instruction • SPIRIT as collaborator: • Integrated into UCI partner programs • Typically as part of summer science programs • Worked with the Center for Educational Partnerships • Handled our own curriculum and instruction

9. Teacher Program Example Developing Research Skills for Science Fair Projects Prepare your students for Science Fair! Learn strategies for developing students' research skills relating to scientific inquiry. Discover information tools they can use for identifying research topics and conducting background research for projects. (*sponsor) Learning Outcomes: • Learn how to guide students towards research topics • Learn techniques for narrowing topics into testable questions • Become familiar with websites in support of Science Fair • Learn about citations & how to encourage those skills http://www.slideshare.net/msellar/research-skills-for-science-fair-projects

10. Teacher Program Example Nanotechnology @ Summer Science Institute Learn about the field of nanoscience/technology, enhancing not only your own understanding of this exciting field of science but also taking away ideas and activities that you can use in your middle and high school classrooms to support the teaching of CA Science Standards. (*collaborator & sponsor) Learning Outcomes: • Develop an understanding of core concepts in nanoscience • Be able to connect those concepts with science standards • Become familiar with resources in support of teaching nano http://sites.google.com/site/ucinano/

11. Teacher Feedback What helped the most? • Connection to standards (mentioned several times) • Library session is great, really informative • Exposure to websites / I really liked the website! • Basic intro to nanotechnology (mentioned several times) • I’ll be accessing the website from home to spend more time! Suggested improvements? • More focus on topics to enhance upcoming presentations

12. Working with K-12 Students • SPIRIT as sponsor: • Day-long, on-campus college experience • Morning research in the libraries • Afternoon activities in lab / research center • Handled all logistics, curriculum, instruction • SPIRIT as collaborator: • Integrated into UCI partner programs • Typically part of various residential summer programs • Handled our own curriculum and instruction

13. Student Program Example An NSF Broader Impacts Partnership (SPIRIT = sponsor) • Partnership with Associate Prof. Siwy of Physics & Astronomy • Nanotechnology for biomedical and engineering applications • Broader impact component for NSF Early Career proposal • Day at College Experience [DACE] Program • Morning library instruction session (http://tiny.cc/9Yxcz) • Afternoon nanotechnology laboratory visit and hands-on activities • (And by the way: raised ~$45K through NSF grant over 5 years)

14. A Day in the Nanoworld Program

15. Student/Teacher Feedback Learning about nanotechnology because that is new to me and it's amazing learning about what college students are learning here at this campus as well as other universities. I found out many things doing this research that have opened my eyes... The teacher: What an amazing two days! A few of the comments my students have said, "College is cool!", "I never though about going to a university, but now I want to go", "Thank you so much, I learned so much today", "That was my best school day ever!” Everything today was new. So I had a great experience and learned about something new in our micro world.

16. More Student/Teacher Feedback The part where we did our research helped the most. It also helped me for my following projects in the future that I'm going to have in high school because I learned that […] I actually put information together and learned from it :) The things I read about today I have never read about before. The parts of the session that helped me the most were when we had to find the information that we needed for our oral discussion all by ourselves without the help of instructors.

17. Other SPIRIT Sponsored Programs Nuclear Reactions: Fusion and Fission http://spirit.lib.uci.edu/researchlessons/research-nuclearreactions.html Exploring Reptilia http://spirit.lib.uci.edu/researchlessons/research-reptilia.html Researching Careers in Science http://spirit.lib.uci.edu/researchlessons/research-sciencecareers.html Exploring the Galaxy and Solar System http://spirit.lib.uci.edu/researchlessons/research-galaxy.html

18. Student Program Example Integrated into campus residential summer science programs: COSMOS (California State Summer School for Math & Science) http://www.cosmos.uci.edu/ Upward Bound http://www.cfep.uci.edu/ub/summer/index.html (*more cooperative in nature than truly collaborative)

19. An Idea: National Lab Day • Just launched in November 2009 & endorsed by Obama • Year-long activities, culminating in May 2010 • Presents an opportunity for libraries to get involved! • Consider volunteering your library as a local organizer • What will your campus be doing? Can you pitch an idea? • Visit the website: http://www.NationalLabDay.org

20. Advice/Best Practices • Pick faculty, programs, & populations you want to work with • Identify and target grant recipients/potential applicants • Start small to get library/campus/faculty buy-in • Utilize existing campus infrastructure • Use existing nat’l and int’l science program materials • Scale scope of collaboration to suit your library

21. Thanks for attending! Questions? Melanie Sellar msellar@marymountpv.edu