JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY & BIOLOGY EDUCATION, March 2016, p. 77-80 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v17i1.996
Scientific Citizenship
Engaging Rural Appalachian High School Girls in College Science Laboratories to Foster STEM-Related Career Interest † Karen L. Kelly Biology and Occupational Therapy, Milligan College, Milligan College, TN 37682 Setting students on a path to success in careers in science is a challenge in poor rural Appalachian public schools. Students face many socioeconomic obstacles. Their teachers are also limited by many factors including inadequate facilities, under-funding, geographical isolation of the schools, and state-testing constraints. Additionally, students and teachers lack the availability of outside science educational opportunities. In an effort to address this situation, 24 academically strong high school junior girls and their teachers from the Carter County School System in rural east Tennessee were invited for a laboratory day at Milligan College, a small liberal arts college in the heart of the county. Science faculty, female science majors, and admissions staff volunteered in service to the project. The event included three laboratory sessions, lunch in the college cafeteria, and campus tours. This successful example, as evidenced by positive evaluations by the invited girls and their teachers, of educational outreach by a local, small liberal arts college to a rural county school system provides a model for establishing a relationship between higher education institutions and these underprivileged schools, with the intention of drawing more of these poor, rural Appalachian students, particularly girls, into a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career path.
INTRODUCTION Setting students on a path to success in careers in science is a challenge in poor rural public schools. Both science teachers and their students face many roadblocks. For students in these schools, many of the biggest challenges relate to socioeconomic factors. For example, in Carter County—a picturesque, 341-square-mile, rural Appalachian county in upper east Tennessee—nearly 31% of individuals aged 25 or older do not have a high school diploma (6) while only 15.8% have bachelors degrees or higher (half the national rate). The teen pregnancy rate is 49 per 1,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 (8), compared with the Tennessee and national rates of 34.7 and 26.5, respectively (7). The mean household income is $19,018 with a 22.9% poverty rate. Female householders, no husband, comprise nearly 12% of the population, with 49% of these below the poverty level. The poverty rate climbs even higher, to 79%, when young children are part of the household (6). Substance abuse and drug-related crimes are also issues in Carter County. Neonatal abstinence syndrome rates per
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Milligan College, PO Box 500, Milligan College, TN 37682. Phone: 423-461-8909. E-mail: [email protected]. †Supplemental materials available at http://jmbe.asm.org
1,000 live births is five times that of the state, and the drug poisoning death rate is greater than the state average, according to the 2015 community health needs assessment of Carter County by Mountain States Health Alliance (5). Additionally, for the years 2009–2013, Carter County had the highest number of methamphetamine-related charges in the state according to news source The Tennessean, based on information from the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (3). These statistics reinforce the overwhelming need for educators and community leaders to reach out to these students, helping them to realize that they can rise above their socioeconomic hindrances and have economically viable careers, including ones in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In addition to the challenge of teaching students with these socioeconomic issues and students who arrive daily without having eaten a meal in 24 hours or slept with a roof over their heads, teachers in poor rural schools face other hurdles. A survey of the dedicated high school science teachers in the Carter County School System (Appendix 1) indicated limitations in supplies, inadequate facilities, statetesting constraints, and safety issues, such as lack of safety equipment, large class sizes, and behavioral problems, as hindrances to the number and quality of laboratory activities they are able to offer. Fortunately, however, the school system has recently invested heavily in the much-needed renovation of each chemistry lab in the system. Also, because rural schools are often isolated and have low population
©2016 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
Volume 17, Number 1
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
77
KELLY: APPALACHIAN GIRLS IN STEM CAREERS
numbers, there are limitations to hiring adequate numbers of science teachers who can provide advanced-level science classes (4). Teachers become discouraged as their jobs become dependent on state test scores in the basic courses that are filled to capacity with students distracted by their many socioeconomic woes. Additionally, according to the Rural Systemic Initiative, teachers in these isolated schools often lack appropriate mentor teachers who can encourage and model best practices in science education, a factor that the National Science Foundation’s Rural Systemic Initiative has had success in rectifying in such places as Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and the Ozarks (2). The facts that Carter County extends over 348 square miles, schools are so distant from one another, and winter weather creates hazardous travel conditions in the mountainous region prevents the teachers from easily meeting together, thereby contributing to their professional isolation. Also important in their struggles is that teachers are unable to provide their students with exposure or access to outside science educational opportunities, such as might be provided by local colleges, scientific organizations, and businesses, due to their scarcity in rural communities. Former students with successful careers in science are also not available as examples, as they tend to leave their childhood communities. Students, therefore, cannot envision themselves in such careers due to this lack of exposure to STEM-related professions (1).
BACKGROUND Based on the author’s direct interaction with local rural public schools, students, parents, and teachers, knowledge of students entering Milligan College from such schools across the state, and confirmation from existing data and studies, the author chose to address the serious need for support for these high school science teachers and their students, which the science area in our college could provide. Milligan College, whose mission is to educate men and women to be servant leaders, is a small Christian liberal arts college located in the heart of Carter County. Establishing a relationship between Milligan College and the Carter County high school science teachers was central to this project and vital to reaching out to their underprivileged students. Math professors at Milligan College had already paved the way by successfully engaging in professional development and mentoring of math teachers (K–12) in several local rural schools supported by multiple grant projects. Also serving as inspiration were grant projects such as the Appalachian Rural System Initiative and the Appalachian Math Science Partnership, which had successfully sought to address various issues in STEM education (http://www.inverness-research. org/reports/2008-01-Rpt-AMSP-UmbrellaFINAL.pdf), and also the community engagement model provided by the Inquiry-Based Science and Math in Appalachian Middle Schools project (9). However, these programs were mostly large-scale with multi-million dollar grant funding involving 78
major higher education research institutions. Small liberal arts schools located in these communities were typically not a part of these projects. The University of California at Los Angeles’ CityLab, whose local underprivileged urban high school students have many of the same socioeconomic issues as rural Appalachian students, provided a successful design example (http://citylab.aud.ucla.edu). This small-scale endeavor, therefore, began by meeting with the teachers, assessing their needs by means of a survey and personal interviews, and donating some muchneeded lab equipment and supplies no longer in use by the college. The survey, approved by the Milligan College IRB and administered using an online survey tool paid for by the author, was conducted with the author present during a professional development day for Carter County high school science teachers at the start of the 2014–15 school year. The survey included questions on course content delivery methods, laboratory and critical thinking activities included, writing assignments, specific equipment available, specific equipment needed, and hindrances to teaching more labs in each individual course (Appendix 1). The author then met with the teachers individually to follow up on the survey, ask about challenges to teaching in Carter County, and solicit ideas for the planned campus laboratory day visit (Appendix 2). Responses to the survey and interviews were kept anonymous. Once this relationship was established, the author was able to plan and implement the college campus laboratory day portion of this project, which is described below and which complemented the Women in STEM Resolution passed by the Tennessee Senate in March 2015.
DISCUSSION Since rural Appalachian high school girls need encouragement to consider careers in science, a lab-day event was organized and implemented at Milligan College. All science teachers from each of the four Carter County high schools were invited along with six academically strong junior girls from each school. Juniors were chosen since they would be at a stage where they would be looking toward college but were not likely to have solidified a decision, a factor contributing to the project’s attractiveness to the college’s admission staff. The author arranged with the high school administration for transportation and substitute teacher costs to be covered by the school system. One teacher from each school planned the transportation, and each teacher arranged for their own substitute teacher and student permission slips. Teachers also received credit from the administration for one day of professional development, thereby compensating for their time commitment before and during the lab day. Milligan College science faculty and several female science students volunteered to staff the laboratory activities. The event consisted of two lab sessions in the morning, lunch in the college cafeteria, and an afternoon lab session, followed by a campus tour. The lab-day curriculum
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Volume 17, Number 1
KELLY: APPALACHIAN GIRLS IN STEM CAREERS
was forensic in nature due to several teachers indicating in interviews that their rural students have such interests. This type of approach also readily supports the development of critical thinking skills. Milligan College science faculty and female students assisted in all of the labs and were available to speak with the attendees during the lunch hour. Such willingness to volunteer time is inherently typical of Milligan College students and faculty and is a reflection of the college’s mission. Therefore, recruiting assistance was an easy task for the author. For the first laboratory session, human anatomical specimens (such as brains, skulls, hearts, lungs, and bones) were placed at stations throughout the lab. Nitrile gloves and probes were provided for safe handling of biological specimens. At each station, background support information and a critical thinking scenario were provided. For example, students at one station were presented with a femur. The background materials explained how to measure a femur in multiple ways to determine sex and height. The scenario described two missing persons. The students completed the measurements and decided whether the femur could belong to either missing person. Students rotated in pairs through all of the stations. The professor in charge of this session presented a follow-up discussion of each scenario. Since Milligan College has sufficient supplies of anatomical specimens and models, professors and students who graciously volunteer their time, and administrators willing to share the facilities with the community, there were no actual financial costs for this particular lab. The second laboratory session was chemistry-related. The students learned to distinguish the seven different recycling classes of plastic polymers by density comparison analyses and flame tests. Forceps were provided for students to handle the plastic polymers. Flame tests were performed under a hood. The students were then given a crime scenario in which they had to determine whether an unknown polymer sample matched a sample from a crime scene. The professor in charge discussed the results to complete this session. During the discussion, some girls indicated this lab to be somewhat tedious. However, exposure to this part of the study of science is important. The purchase of materials for preparing fluids of various densities was the only expenditure for this session since the plastic polymers were obtained from recyclables from the presenting professor’s home. In the final laboratory session, students performed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA. This session began with a short lecture from a professor on antibodies, antigens, and the concepts of each step of the ELISA. Students were then presented with a case study of an infectious disease outbreak within a high school and each given a sample simulating their own body fluid. One sample contained the simulated disease antigen that was provided with the kit. The students simulated the spread of an infection by mixing their sample with the samples of other students as described in their experimental protocol, performed an Volume 17, Number 1
ELISA according to the step-by-step instructions provided, and used the ELISA results to determine which individual was likely to be “patient zero.” The scenario was modified for the audience from the one provided by the supplier of the ELISA kit (explorer.bio-rad.com). The purchase price for an ELISA kit is reasonable, running approximately $120 to $150 for up to 48 students. Instructions for preparation, background, and experimentation are provided with the kit from Bio-Rad and are thorough and easy to follow. Electronic files containing preparation and implementation instructions for the three lab sessions were given to the teachers. The Milligan College Admissions Office was a major supporter of this event, particularly because of its recruitment potential. In addition to speaking during the lunch hour with the girls (about undergraduate degrees, dual enrollment, and financial aid) and the teachers (about graduate degrees), the admissions office covered the cost of lunch in the college cafeteria, provided each attendee with a Milligan t-shirt, and conducted campus tours. Student e-mails were obtained and given to admissions counselors for further contact. The College of Science and Allied Health, along with the author, provided each attendee with a drawstring bag filled with science-related “goodies.” The total cost per attendee for the lunch, t-shirt and bag was approximately fifteen dollars. This lab day event was successful on many levels. First, a lab day evaluation was offered to the girls following the third lab (Appendix 3). The girls rated the event an average of 5.7 on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1 being a waste of time and 6 being awesome. All of the girls responded that they would recommend the event to a friend. Most importantly, 83% of the girls rated the event as having a positive effect on their interest in a career in science—71% already interested and now more interested, 12% not interested and now interested, 17% already interested and now unchanged, and 0% had no interest or a loss in interest. Secondly, the teachers responded to an online evaluation the week following the event (Appendix 4). Five out of six of the respondents (83%) considered the event to be very useful for their students while the remaining respondent found it moderately useful. Each responding teacher would also bring students to such an event again and would attend such an event again. Finally, observation of, and conversations with, the students, teachers, and volunteers revealed an apparent high level of engagement in each of the activities of the day.
CONCLUSION In order to have a continuing impact on this school system and our community, this relationship needs to be fostered and maintained, particularly in light of the Tennessee state legislature’s commitment to STEM education. First, the author plans to maintain contact with the teachers by e-mail. However, these teachers are often overwhelmed by e-mail communications from their administration reminding them of and adding to their responsibilities. Therefore, it would be important to not become a nuisance or burden to
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
79
KELLY: APPALACHIAN GIRLS IN STEM CAREERS
them. Secondly, the intention is to offer the lab-day event at least once a year. Though planning this event was timeconsuming for the author, it should take less time each time it is offered. At the event, as requested by approximately one-third of the teachers in the online post–lab day evaluation, more professional development opportunities could also be offered specifically for the teachers, for example, having the teachers from each school discuss best practices and successful teaching methods for particularly challenging state science standards (Appendix 4). Additionally, the teachers indicated in the post–lab day evaluation that their students would likely be interested in some form of multi-day science camp at Milligan College, as long as there was little or no cost to the attending student. The teachers indicated they would be interested in some form of opportunity for their own continuing education as well. Expenses and time investments would obviously vary for each of these events, and Milligan College and Carter County School administrations would, therefore, have to be approached about the level of commitment each could offer. Grant sources could also be considered as a means of financial support. Ongoing assessment of the many aspects of this partnership would also be critical to improving and determining the future direction of such a program. In the end, the desire is to serve this underprivileged community and to see more poor, rural Appalachian high school students envisioning and pursuing careers in science.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS Appendix 1: Individual course-by-course survey of teaching methods and laboratory needs Appendix 2: Individual teacher interview questions Appendix 3: Student evaluations of lab day Appendix 4: Teacher evaluations of lab day and future events
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Support was provided by the Milligan College School of Science and Allied Health, Milligan College Office of Admissions, Carter County School System, and the author. Milligan College Institutional Review Board approval was granted for this project with the appropriate letter of cooperation
80
from the Carter County School Administration and survey consent form from the teachers. The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.
REFERENCES 1. Avery, L. A. 2013. Rural science education: valuing local knowledge. Theory Pract. 52:28–35. 2. Harmon, H. L., and K. C. Smith. 2012. Legacy of the rural systemic initiatives: innovation, leadership, teacher development and lessons learned. Edvantia (NJ1). [Online.] http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED531890. 3. Hass, B. 2 May 2014. In Carter County, fighting meth is a dirty and dangerous business. The Tennessean. [Online.] http://archive.tennessean.com/article/20140302/ NEWS01/303030012/In-Carter-County-fighting-meth-dirtydangerous-business. 4. Hodges, G. W., J. S. Oliver, and D. Tippins. 2013. A study of highly qualified science teachers’ career trajectory in the deep, rural south: examining a link between deprofessionalization and teacher dissatisfaction. School Sci. Math. 113(6):263–274. 5. M ount a in St ates Hea lt h A llia nce . 2015. 2015 Community health needs assessment. [Online.] https://www. mountainstateshealth.com/sites/default/files/documents/ FY2015 Community Health Needs Assessment SSH.pdf. 6. United States Census Bureau. 2015. State and county quick facts, Carter County, Tennessee. [Online.] http:// quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47019.html. Accessed 22 July 2015. 7. United States Department of Health and Human Services Offices of Adolescent Health. 2013. Trends in teen pregnancy and childbearing. [Online.] http://www.hhs. gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/ teen-pregnancy/trends.html. Accessed July 22, 2015. 8. University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2014. County health rankings and roadmaps. [Online.] http://www. countyhealthrankings.org/app/tennessee/2014/measure/ factors/14/data?sort=sc-3. Accessed 22 July 2015. 9. Wilder, M., and T. Otieno. 2010. Enhancing inquiry-based science and math in Appalachian middle schools: a model for community engagement. Kentucky J. Excellence Coll. Teach. Learn. 8:9–19.
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Volume 17, Number 1
Scientific Citizenship
Engaging Rural Appalachian High School Girls in College Science Laboratories to Foster STEM-Related Career Interest † Karen L. Kelly Biology and Occupational Therapy, Milligan College, Milligan College, TN 37682 Setting students on a path to success in careers in science is a challenge in poor rural Appalachian public schools. Students face many socioeconomic obstacles. Their teachers are also limited by many factors including inadequate facilities, under-funding, geographical isolation of the schools, and state-testing constraints. Additionally, students and teachers lack the availability of outside science educational opportunities. In an effort to address this situation, 24 academically strong high school junior girls and their teachers from the Carter County School System in rural east Tennessee were invited for a laboratory day at Milligan College, a small liberal arts college in the heart of the county. Science faculty, female science majors, and admissions staff volunteered in service to the project. The event included three laboratory sessions, lunch in the college cafeteria, and campus tours. This successful example, as evidenced by positive evaluations by the invited girls and their teachers, of educational outreach by a local, small liberal arts college to a rural county school system provides a model for establishing a relationship between higher education institutions and these underprivileged schools, with the intention of drawing more of these poor, rural Appalachian students, particularly girls, into a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career path.
INTRODUCTION Setting students on a path to success in careers in science is a challenge in poor rural public schools. Both science teachers and their students face many roadblocks. For students in these schools, many of the biggest challenges relate to socioeconomic factors. For example, in Carter County—a picturesque, 341-square-mile, rural Appalachian county in upper east Tennessee—nearly 31% of individuals aged 25 or older do not have a high school diploma (6) while only 15.8% have bachelors degrees or higher (half the national rate). The teen pregnancy rate is 49 per 1,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 (8), compared with the Tennessee and national rates of 34.7 and 26.5, respectively (7). The mean household income is $19,018 with a 22.9% poverty rate. Female householders, no husband, comprise nearly 12% of the population, with 49% of these below the poverty level. The poverty rate climbs even higher, to 79%, when young children are part of the household (6). Substance abuse and drug-related crimes are also issues in Carter County. Neonatal abstinence syndrome rates per
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Milligan College, PO Box 500, Milligan College, TN 37682. Phone: 423-461-8909. E-mail: [email protected]. †Supplemental materials available at http://jmbe.asm.org
1,000 live births is five times that of the state, and the drug poisoning death rate is greater than the state average, according to the 2015 community health needs assessment of Carter County by Mountain States Health Alliance (5). Additionally, for the years 2009–2013, Carter County had the highest number of methamphetamine-related charges in the state according to news source The Tennessean, based on information from the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (3). These statistics reinforce the overwhelming need for educators and community leaders to reach out to these students, helping them to realize that they can rise above their socioeconomic hindrances and have economically viable careers, including ones in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In addition to the challenge of teaching students with these socioeconomic issues and students who arrive daily without having eaten a meal in 24 hours or slept with a roof over their heads, teachers in poor rural schools face other hurdles. A survey of the dedicated high school science teachers in the Carter County School System (Appendix 1) indicated limitations in supplies, inadequate facilities, statetesting constraints, and safety issues, such as lack of safety equipment, large class sizes, and behavioral problems, as hindrances to the number and quality of laboratory activities they are able to offer. Fortunately, however, the school system has recently invested heavily in the much-needed renovation of each chemistry lab in the system. Also, because rural schools are often isolated and have low population
©2016 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
Volume 17, Number 1
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
77
KELLY: APPALACHIAN GIRLS IN STEM CAREERS
numbers, there are limitations to hiring adequate numbers of science teachers who can provide advanced-level science classes (4). Teachers become discouraged as their jobs become dependent on state test scores in the basic courses that are filled to capacity with students distracted by their many socioeconomic woes. Additionally, according to the Rural Systemic Initiative, teachers in these isolated schools often lack appropriate mentor teachers who can encourage and model best practices in science education, a factor that the National Science Foundation’s Rural Systemic Initiative has had success in rectifying in such places as Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and the Ozarks (2). The facts that Carter County extends over 348 square miles, schools are so distant from one another, and winter weather creates hazardous travel conditions in the mountainous region prevents the teachers from easily meeting together, thereby contributing to their professional isolation. Also important in their struggles is that teachers are unable to provide their students with exposure or access to outside science educational opportunities, such as might be provided by local colleges, scientific organizations, and businesses, due to their scarcity in rural communities. Former students with successful careers in science are also not available as examples, as they tend to leave their childhood communities. Students, therefore, cannot envision themselves in such careers due to this lack of exposure to STEM-related professions (1).
BACKGROUND Based on the author’s direct interaction with local rural public schools, students, parents, and teachers, knowledge of students entering Milligan College from such schools across the state, and confirmation from existing data and studies, the author chose to address the serious need for support for these high school science teachers and their students, which the science area in our college could provide. Milligan College, whose mission is to educate men and women to be servant leaders, is a small Christian liberal arts college located in the heart of Carter County. Establishing a relationship between Milligan College and the Carter County high school science teachers was central to this project and vital to reaching out to their underprivileged students. Math professors at Milligan College had already paved the way by successfully engaging in professional development and mentoring of math teachers (K–12) in several local rural schools supported by multiple grant projects. Also serving as inspiration were grant projects such as the Appalachian Rural System Initiative and the Appalachian Math Science Partnership, which had successfully sought to address various issues in STEM education (http://www.inverness-research. org/reports/2008-01-Rpt-AMSP-UmbrellaFINAL.pdf), and also the community engagement model provided by the Inquiry-Based Science and Math in Appalachian Middle Schools project (9). However, these programs were mostly large-scale with multi-million dollar grant funding involving 78
major higher education research institutions. Small liberal arts schools located in these communities were typically not a part of these projects. The University of California at Los Angeles’ CityLab, whose local underprivileged urban high school students have many of the same socioeconomic issues as rural Appalachian students, provided a successful design example (http://citylab.aud.ucla.edu). This small-scale endeavor, therefore, began by meeting with the teachers, assessing their needs by means of a survey and personal interviews, and donating some muchneeded lab equipment and supplies no longer in use by the college. The survey, approved by the Milligan College IRB and administered using an online survey tool paid for by the author, was conducted with the author present during a professional development day for Carter County high school science teachers at the start of the 2014–15 school year. The survey included questions on course content delivery methods, laboratory and critical thinking activities included, writing assignments, specific equipment available, specific equipment needed, and hindrances to teaching more labs in each individual course (Appendix 1). The author then met with the teachers individually to follow up on the survey, ask about challenges to teaching in Carter County, and solicit ideas for the planned campus laboratory day visit (Appendix 2). Responses to the survey and interviews were kept anonymous. Once this relationship was established, the author was able to plan and implement the college campus laboratory day portion of this project, which is described below and which complemented the Women in STEM Resolution passed by the Tennessee Senate in March 2015.
DISCUSSION Since rural Appalachian high school girls need encouragement to consider careers in science, a lab-day event was organized and implemented at Milligan College. All science teachers from each of the four Carter County high schools were invited along with six academically strong junior girls from each school. Juniors were chosen since they would be at a stage where they would be looking toward college but were not likely to have solidified a decision, a factor contributing to the project’s attractiveness to the college’s admission staff. The author arranged with the high school administration for transportation and substitute teacher costs to be covered by the school system. One teacher from each school planned the transportation, and each teacher arranged for their own substitute teacher and student permission slips. Teachers also received credit from the administration for one day of professional development, thereby compensating for their time commitment before and during the lab day. Milligan College science faculty and several female science students volunteered to staff the laboratory activities. The event consisted of two lab sessions in the morning, lunch in the college cafeteria, and an afternoon lab session, followed by a campus tour. The lab-day curriculum
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Volume 17, Number 1
KELLY: APPALACHIAN GIRLS IN STEM CAREERS
was forensic in nature due to several teachers indicating in interviews that their rural students have such interests. This type of approach also readily supports the development of critical thinking skills. Milligan College science faculty and female students assisted in all of the labs and were available to speak with the attendees during the lunch hour. Such willingness to volunteer time is inherently typical of Milligan College students and faculty and is a reflection of the college’s mission. Therefore, recruiting assistance was an easy task for the author. For the first laboratory session, human anatomical specimens (such as brains, skulls, hearts, lungs, and bones) were placed at stations throughout the lab. Nitrile gloves and probes were provided for safe handling of biological specimens. At each station, background support information and a critical thinking scenario were provided. For example, students at one station were presented with a femur. The background materials explained how to measure a femur in multiple ways to determine sex and height. The scenario described two missing persons. The students completed the measurements and decided whether the femur could belong to either missing person. Students rotated in pairs through all of the stations. The professor in charge of this session presented a follow-up discussion of each scenario. Since Milligan College has sufficient supplies of anatomical specimens and models, professors and students who graciously volunteer their time, and administrators willing to share the facilities with the community, there were no actual financial costs for this particular lab. The second laboratory session was chemistry-related. The students learned to distinguish the seven different recycling classes of plastic polymers by density comparison analyses and flame tests. Forceps were provided for students to handle the plastic polymers. Flame tests were performed under a hood. The students were then given a crime scenario in which they had to determine whether an unknown polymer sample matched a sample from a crime scene. The professor in charge discussed the results to complete this session. During the discussion, some girls indicated this lab to be somewhat tedious. However, exposure to this part of the study of science is important. The purchase of materials for preparing fluids of various densities was the only expenditure for this session since the plastic polymers were obtained from recyclables from the presenting professor’s home. In the final laboratory session, students performed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA. This session began with a short lecture from a professor on antibodies, antigens, and the concepts of each step of the ELISA. Students were then presented with a case study of an infectious disease outbreak within a high school and each given a sample simulating their own body fluid. One sample contained the simulated disease antigen that was provided with the kit. The students simulated the spread of an infection by mixing their sample with the samples of other students as described in their experimental protocol, performed an Volume 17, Number 1
ELISA according to the step-by-step instructions provided, and used the ELISA results to determine which individual was likely to be “patient zero.” The scenario was modified for the audience from the one provided by the supplier of the ELISA kit (explorer.bio-rad.com). The purchase price for an ELISA kit is reasonable, running approximately $120 to $150 for up to 48 students. Instructions for preparation, background, and experimentation are provided with the kit from Bio-Rad and are thorough and easy to follow. Electronic files containing preparation and implementation instructions for the three lab sessions were given to the teachers. The Milligan College Admissions Office was a major supporter of this event, particularly because of its recruitment potential. In addition to speaking during the lunch hour with the girls (about undergraduate degrees, dual enrollment, and financial aid) and the teachers (about graduate degrees), the admissions office covered the cost of lunch in the college cafeteria, provided each attendee with a Milligan t-shirt, and conducted campus tours. Student e-mails were obtained and given to admissions counselors for further contact. The College of Science and Allied Health, along with the author, provided each attendee with a drawstring bag filled with science-related “goodies.” The total cost per attendee for the lunch, t-shirt and bag was approximately fifteen dollars. This lab day event was successful on many levels. First, a lab day evaluation was offered to the girls following the third lab (Appendix 3). The girls rated the event an average of 5.7 on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1 being a waste of time and 6 being awesome. All of the girls responded that they would recommend the event to a friend. Most importantly, 83% of the girls rated the event as having a positive effect on their interest in a career in science—71% already interested and now more interested, 12% not interested and now interested, 17% already interested and now unchanged, and 0% had no interest or a loss in interest. Secondly, the teachers responded to an online evaluation the week following the event (Appendix 4). Five out of six of the respondents (83%) considered the event to be very useful for their students while the remaining respondent found it moderately useful. Each responding teacher would also bring students to such an event again and would attend such an event again. Finally, observation of, and conversations with, the students, teachers, and volunteers revealed an apparent high level of engagement in each of the activities of the day.
CONCLUSION In order to have a continuing impact on this school system and our community, this relationship needs to be fostered and maintained, particularly in light of the Tennessee state legislature’s commitment to STEM education. First, the author plans to maintain contact with the teachers by e-mail. However, these teachers are often overwhelmed by e-mail communications from their administration reminding them of and adding to their responsibilities. Therefore, it would be important to not become a nuisance or burden to
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
79
KELLY: APPALACHIAN GIRLS IN STEM CAREERS
them. Secondly, the intention is to offer the lab-day event at least once a year. Though planning this event was timeconsuming for the author, it should take less time each time it is offered. At the event, as requested by approximately one-third of the teachers in the online post–lab day evaluation, more professional development opportunities could also be offered specifically for the teachers, for example, having the teachers from each school discuss best practices and successful teaching methods for particularly challenging state science standards (Appendix 4). Additionally, the teachers indicated in the post–lab day evaluation that their students would likely be interested in some form of multi-day science camp at Milligan College, as long as there was little or no cost to the attending student. The teachers indicated they would be interested in some form of opportunity for their own continuing education as well. Expenses and time investments would obviously vary for each of these events, and Milligan College and Carter County School administrations would, therefore, have to be approached about the level of commitment each could offer. Grant sources could also be considered as a means of financial support. Ongoing assessment of the many aspects of this partnership would also be critical to improving and determining the future direction of such a program. In the end, the desire is to serve this underprivileged community and to see more poor, rural Appalachian high school students envisioning and pursuing careers in science.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS Appendix 1: Individual course-by-course survey of teaching methods and laboratory needs Appendix 2: Individual teacher interview questions Appendix 3: Student evaluations of lab day Appendix 4: Teacher evaluations of lab day and future events
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Support was provided by the Milligan College School of Science and Allied Health, Milligan College Office of Admissions, Carter County School System, and the author. Milligan College Institutional Review Board approval was granted for this project with the appropriate letter of cooperation
80
from the Carter County School Administration and survey consent form from the teachers. The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.
REFERENCES 1. Avery, L. A. 2013. Rural science education: valuing local knowledge. Theory Pract. 52:28–35. 2. Harmon, H. L., and K. C. Smith. 2012. Legacy of the rural systemic initiatives: innovation, leadership, teacher development and lessons learned. Edvantia (NJ1). [Online.] http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED531890. 3. Hass, B. 2 May 2014. In Carter County, fighting meth is a dirty and dangerous business. The Tennessean. [Online.] http://archive.tennessean.com/article/20140302/ NEWS01/303030012/In-Carter-County-fighting-meth-dirtydangerous-business. 4. Hodges, G. W., J. S. Oliver, and D. Tippins. 2013. A study of highly qualified science teachers’ career trajectory in the deep, rural south: examining a link between deprofessionalization and teacher dissatisfaction. School Sci. Math. 113(6):263–274. 5. M ount a in St ates Hea lt h A llia nce . 2015. 2015 Community health needs assessment. [Online.] https://www. mountainstateshealth.com/sites/default/files/documents/ FY2015 Community Health Needs Assessment SSH.pdf. 6. United States Census Bureau. 2015. State and county quick facts, Carter County, Tennessee. [Online.] http:// quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47019.html. Accessed 22 July 2015. 7. United States Department of Health and Human Services Offices of Adolescent Health. 2013. Trends in teen pregnancy and childbearing. [Online.] http://www.hhs. gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/ teen-pregnancy/trends.html. Accessed July 22, 2015. 8. University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2014. County health rankings and roadmaps. [Online.] http://www. countyhealthrankings.org/app/tennessee/2014/measure/ factors/14/data?sort=sc-3. Accessed 22 July 2015. 9. Wilder, M., and T. Otieno. 2010. Enhancing inquiry-based science and math in Appalachian middle schools: a model for community engagement. Kentucky J. Excellence Coll. Teach. Learn. 8:9–19.
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Volume 17, Number 1
