Zebrafish navigate their way through a maze at Hamilton High School in Milwaukee. Meanwhile at Seymour Community High School, just west of Green Bay, others are exposed to pollutants. Even more can be found in high schools in Pardeeville, Waukesha and Racine.<\/p>\n
The fish started their journey at UW-Milwaukee, making their way to 31 high schools across the state this academic year. Their mission: provide high school science students with an authentic research environment to examine the effects of environmental agents like nicotine and ethanol on animal development and health. The creator of that mission: 51ÁÔÆæ Distinguished Professor of Chemistry David Petering. Petering\u2019s goal is to help high school students hit the ground running in college \u2013 and have them head straight to research labs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re living in a century that is saturated in science and technology,\u201d Petering said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a citizenry that tunes in and really thinks about science, we\u2019re in bad shape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petering started the precollege education program 20 years ago at 51ÁÔÆæ. It evolved into the WI Inquiry-based Scientist-Teacher Education Partnership, or WInSTEP. Over the past two decades, Petering has received $3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Science Education Partnership Award Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 51ÁÔÆæ giving us this opportunity, it has broadened opportunities for people all over my school and all over the state,\u201d said Emma Ellis, a senior at Seymour Community High School.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really expanded upon the idea that kids can be some really great researchers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petering and the team of 51ÁÔÆæ scientists develop\u00a0the high school curriculum with Craig Berg, a professor in the School of Education. They spend a week every summer\u00a0training\u00a0high school teachers to implement the program and, with project coordinator Renee Hesselbach, are available throughout the year to visit classrooms, answer questions and troubleshoot topics ranging from spawning fish to reviewing scientific papers that students write about their research. The culminating event is a research conference and poster competition held at 51ÁÔÆæ each spring that draws hundreds of students and teachers from around the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that we\u2019ve been really impressed with, with UW-Milwaukee is the amount of support that they\u2019ve given us as teachers,\u201d said Cassie Cobb, a science teacher at Seymour Community High School. \u201cWe just had this fabulous experience in our classroom, but without everyone at 51ÁÔÆæ that would\u2019ve never happened. To me, it means everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2016 WInSTEP Student Research Conference is April 19.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For 20 years, David Petering\u2019s goal has been to help high school students understand science and technology \u2013 and have them ready for college research labs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":839,"featured_media":28571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[139,143],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[207],"uwmnews-feed":[158],"class_list":["post-28619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-science-technology","section-water-environment","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-teaching","uwmnews-feed-letters-science"],"yoast_head":"\n