Overview
Classroom partnerships bring UCSF scientist volunteers into SFUSD classrooms. A UCSF “scientist” can be a graduate student, health professional student (med student, dental student, pharmacy student), postdoc, faculty, or staff. Teacher/scientist teams partner to co-teach hands-on science lessons to K-12 students. SEP supports each team by providing lesson support, materials and kits (available from the Daly Ralston Resource Center), and optional pedagogy training for scientists.
Typical Teacher/Scientist Teams
Elementary School: 2 teachers/2 scientists
Middle/High School: 1 teacher/2 scientists
You can request a friend/colleague as a partner when you apply. You can also opt to work in a smaller group (i.e. 1 teacher/1 scientist, or 1 teacher/ 2 scientists). Let us know your preferences in you application.
Timeline
The total time commitment for planning and teaching lessons is typically about 20 hours. Teams plan their meeting and lesson times based on what works for everyone’s schedule.
November
Applications Open – UCSF volunteers and SFUSD teachers submit their applications to the program.
December/January
Team Orientation – Participants will learn about the program and meet the rest of their Teacher/Scientist team
January/February
Lesson Planning Meeting – At this meeting, a coordinator will suggest lessons, guide lesson planning, and help teams find lesson materials.
Classroom Observation – Scientists will visit their teacher’s classroom to introduce themselves, start to get to know the students, and observe classroom norms and procedures.
February/June (last day of school)
Four Hands-on Science Lessons – These four lessons (typically 45 mins to 1 hr) are scheduled at a time that best fits everyone’s schedule. Teams can schedule one lesson per week, once every two weeks, or any combination that suits the team. SEP staff tries to partner teachers and scientist with similar schedule restrictions to make planning easier.
Teams with two teachers would repeat lessons in both teachers’ classrooms.
May/June
End-of-Program Survey – At the end of the program, we ask each participant to fill out a survey to provide SEP with feedback and data to report to our funders.
Elementary School Programs
Health Teach/Med Teach partners professional students from Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing and Physical Therapy with SFUSD teachers to plan and co-teach a series of hands-on human body and health lessons in kindergarten through 5th grade classrooms
Middle and High School Programs
Bio & Chem Teach partners UCSF volunteers (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and faculty) with SFUSD teachers to plan and co-teach a series of investigative science lessons around biological, physical, and/or earth science topics. Generally, one teacher partners with two to three UCSF volunteers to teach a minimum of four lessons in the spring semester.
After School Programs
STEM After School is a collaboration between SEP and Techbridge Girls to support STEM learning for K-8 students from SFUSD during afterschool hours (3-6pm). After school providers and UCSF scientist volunteers collaborate to teach 4 one-hour lessons together during the spring semester. Typical teams consist of two UCSF volunteers and one after-school provider.
Applications:
Our application for the 2019-20 Classroom Partnership Program is now closed. We will begin recruiting for next year’s program in the fall of 2020.
Request an application to our classroom partnership program at the link below: