UNIVERSITY SCIENCE STUDENTS AS CURRICULUM PLANNERS, TEACHERS, AND ROLE MODELS IN ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL CLASSROOMS

SEARCH (Science Education and Research for CHildren) is an outreach pr ogram designed to teach science and to foster positive attitudes towar d science. Through the project, university science students bring acti vity-based learning, plus materials and content expertise, to local cl assrooms and after-school programs. Using observations, surveys, and i nterviews, we examined the experiences of these students as curriculum planners, teachers, and role models for the children. We found that t eachers value the enthusiasm and the resources provided by the SEARCH students. Children were engaged in the activities and looked forward t o the students' visits. They also see them as positive and diverse mod els for the role of scientist. But there were often problems in the ar eas of preparation, scheduling, and communication, and the classroom a ctivities often replicated traditional didactic lessons. The SEARCH ex perience highlights both the value of providing diverse and challengin g experiences for children, and the need for dialogue and reflection o n those experiences. Despite several concerns, the SEARCH model is one that deserves expansion and further study as it is extended into new settings.