The Sustained Scientist in the Classroom Partnership: A Model for Innovative STEM Graduate Training Programs

Abstract

: The Scientist in the Classroom Partnership (SCP) is a program of the Vanderbilt Collaborative for STEM Education and Outreach (CSEO) that partners scientists-in-training (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) with classroom teachers to co-teach one day per week in elementary and middle schools. The program was initially funded through an NSF GK-12 award, and has been sustained since 2007 through a collaboration between the Vanderbilt CSEO and Metro Nashville Public Schools. Over the 20 years of the program, more than 180 STEM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have participated. In the current study, the impact of the program on the 83 participants from 2000-2009 was examined using Likert-scale and open-ended surveys. Results indicated that participants gained skills not often found in traditional research training programs, including teaching, communication, teamwork, and leadership. These results strongly suggest that the SCP represents a program that provides STEM PhDs with skills beyond the usual graduate training programs that they will need as they enter traditional and non-traditional STEM careers.