Access Science

Partnerships between university students and teachers are mutually beneficial. While Penn students contribute content expertise, creativity, and enthusiasm to the classroom, they also improve their own understanding and ability to communicate the material within their discipline. Penn students, known as Access Science Fellows, provide a wide range of support, including but not limited to developing hands-on chemistry, physics, math, biology, and engineering labs for elementary, middle and high school students. Fellows bring new ideas to the classroom, prepare and gather materials for labs and activities, create lessons and worksheets to accompany the curriculum, and provide individual support for students where needed.

Here are some from the past year:
Academically-based Community Service (ABCS) Access Science Fellow and computer science PhD student Mark VanLangeveld has developed a new academically based community service course, "Learning Multimedia Tools by Teaching in an Urban High School Multimedia Production Facility". This course is now offered every semester and Penn students taking the course become proficient at a chosen multimedia tool, they then create a tutorial and use the tutorial to teach high school students at University City High school. There are currently ABCS courses in Biology, Math, ENVS & BBB, and we have new courses in development in BE and BBB. Many of these ABCS courses have Access Science Fellows, graduate or undergraduate students as TAs.

Direct Classroom Support Access Science Fellow and biology PhD student Lori Spindler is working closely with a teacher at University City High School to implement an AP Biology course. This is the first AP Biology course provided at that high school.

Other Activities Access Science Fellows have used Penn as a landscape of learning for the K-12 students; coordinating visits to the Biopond and 'geology of the community' field trips to examine the variety of rocks used to construct the buildings on Penn's campus.

Team Evaluation, in PDF format

If you are interested in getting involved:

We are looking for students to:
lend their expertise, creativity and hands-on support in science classrooms of local elementary, middle and high schools

We are looking for faculty to:
be a resource to Fellows. This involves providing guidance to Fellows working on hands-on activities within your field.
Host a small group of local teachers. The visit could include a visit to your lab or an update on topics within your field of expertise.

If you have any questions or would like to get more involved with the program, please email Katie Schu, kschu@sas.upenn.edu.

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