Aaron Reedy – along with a select few high schools across the nation – has done something previously thought impossible. His high school students have completed important, significant scientific research. In this article, Reedy talks about how he rebuilt his biology class from the ground up in order to do meaningful research, ultimately publishing a real academic work with high school students as co-author.
While this scale of research is not common, there are some great lessons to learn from it, and hopefully this will be the start of a shift to more meaningful research in high school education. Reedy closes the article with five good reasons scientists and teachers should work together:
- Science outreach works best when it is ongoing.
- Teachers are experts in communicating science to kids in a way that researchers are not.
- Researchers are in a great position to work with teachers to foster intellectual growth and develop original experiments.
- The best science learning experiences in schools are big enough to be shared.
- Outreach doesn’t have to take away time from research.
Check out the full article here on Scientific American. What is your school doing to innovate its science education?