N.A. Ingoglia, PhD Professor of Pharmacology/Physiology & Neuroscience

1. Teacher Training InternshipA graduate course that serves as a link between graduate students / research faculty and local high school students N.A. Ingoglia, PhD Professor of Pharmacology/Physiology & Neuroscience Director, Sloan Minority to the PhD Program Director, Science Education Outreach Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at New Jersey Medical School – UMDNJ Newark, NJ (ingoglia@umdnj.edu)

2. A Master’s in Biomedical Science is a major educational effort of GSBS-N Master’s students include those: • who want to improve their academic records so that they may apply to professional schools (medical, dental, veterinary and others – (>75%) • who work (or would like to work) in the pharmaceutical or biotech industries and don’t want to go as far as a PhD • who like the life sciences and have no clear idea of what career they would like to pursue • interested in Science Education. A Biomedically Oriented Professional Master’s Program (Academic Medicine V. 84, No.4; pp464-467; April 2009)

3. A variety of courses have been developed to accommodate the >150 MS students • Bioterrorism and Biodefense • Stem Cells & Molecular Medicine • Current Molecular Techniques • Laboratory Animal Science • Principles of Pharmacology • Molecular Oncology • Topics in Neuroscience • Molecular Oncology • Pharmaceutical Internship • Teaching Training Internship

4. The Teaching Training Internship(open to MS and PhD students) • Requires 60 hrs (2 credits) or 90 hrs (3 credits): (grading S/U) • Students are assigned to a HS STEM teacher and may: • Help with lab exercises • Grade exams • Help students learn difficult subjects • Give supervised lectures on assigned topics • At the end of the course students: • submit to me a 3-5 page summary of the experience • teachers send an email attesting to the time spent at the HS

5. The internships are performed at: • Science Park HS (across the street from the Newark campus of UMDNJ) • Eastside HS – about 5 miles (Ironbound) • University HS – about 3 miles

6. Outcomes Grad Student Enrollment HS Classes Involved

7. Outcomes • HS teachers report that grad students are a great help in teaching the subject matter and motivating the HS students • HS teachers report that they are learning from our students • Approximately 90% of grad students report a positive and sometimes transforming teaching experience. • The HS students identify with our students and find this a positive experience • Plans are underway to bring the most talented and motivated of these HS students into our research labs

8. Quotes from Graduate Students and High School Teachers

9. A Graduate Student’s Experience “The first day I walked into East Side High School, I was excited but a bit anxious. I was well aware that high school students can be rambunctious and unruly, and that high school students in a high school ranked 301st out of 316 public high schools in New Jersey would probably be particularly rambunctious and unruly…” “But I convinced myself that I could handle the challenge as long as I showed the teacher and the students that I took them seriously, and that I was coming in because I wanted to help…”

10. A Student’s Experience (cont’d) “After signing in and explaining to the security guards and administrative staff that no, I was not a high school student, just a short and relatively young student teacher, I made my way into the biology classroom…” In addition to helping in the lab exercises and explaining difficult concepts to students, “ I also gave lectures on basic biochemistry and cell biology, in addition to telling the students about my cancer research…”

11. A Student’s Experience (cont’d) “By the time the students … received their first report cards, some of them began to realize they would need to put forth more effort if they wanted to pass the class. Some of the students had greater than twenty absences during only the first quarter of the school year. Others had turned in only a fraction of their assignments…”

12. A Student’s Experience – (conclusion) “Teaching at East Side was definitely a reality check... Interaction with our communities off campus helps us to put our problems in perspective. We grad students sometimes think the world is going to end if we get a B on an exam. These students are more concerned about whether they are going to eat before they come to school…”

13. Another Student’s Comment • “…it has sharpened my teaching skills and has warmed my heart into loving teaching. Surprisingly, I discovered that I have a passion for teaching.  I enjoyed helping the students so much that even after completing my internship, I will continue to go to SPHS on Fridays to help Ms. Chi and her students who are also my friends…”

14. From a Science Teacher “ When she walked into my Honors Biology class …, my students thought she was a new classmate. By the time I had given them her profile and explained that she would be co-teaching with me, the students were electrified. There was an instantaneous connection with her youthfulness. For urban high school kids badly in need of a positive role model, this was a fortuitous meeting…”

15. From the Science Teacher (cont’d) “Aliciawas very supportive of my instruction: she circulated the class as I taught, which helped to keep the students on task; she leveraged her youthfulness to explain concepts to some students who had difficulties… She improved my feedback by helping me grade papers; she was the laboratory technician I never had, helping me to prepare and execute my labs and clean up…”

16. From the Science Teacher (cont’d) “.. On agreed days she actually taught lessons, using examples and techniques which were closer to the students’ experiences. On those days, it was a very instructive role reversal for me. She added the “Jeopardy” technique of test review and class participation to my instructional repertoire. The students could not have enough of her; frequently asking why she could not come on the remaining days of the week!”

17. Final Teacher Comments “Let me end by applauding your internship program, which I believe is a very practical way of giving back to the community; it is also an enrichment of the life experiences of your graduate students” “I found having Sarah as a student teacher to be very helpful and beneficial for my students. I feel that this program gives Master’s students great exposure to teaching and it is a great help to teachers”

18. Problems • Geography – the closest school is the most popular • Only three schools in the Newark system are participating in the program • Lack of follow-up – each graduate student is allowed a maximum of 3 credits in this course (some volunteer after completing the 3 credits) • Sometimes the teachers are an issue (poor teachers don’t want to participate); some of the other teachers have been criticized [to me] by our students

19. Summary • The Teacher Training Internship can serve as a “bridge” between biomedical researchers (master’s, PhD students and faculty) and urban HS students needing direction and role models 2) Graduate students get much needed teaching experience and a more personal view of what educational obstacles confront urban HS students 3) This course may help to identify and help talented HS students and help keep them in the educational pipeline