Bringing research to practitioners

O’Connell got the idea to start INSPIRE at Stanford after seeing that the NSF offered grants to institutions of higher learning and other nonprofits to provide research experience for teachers (RETs) within a department.

“I thought this was perfect because it was a chance to have eight teachers in labs across the whole department, while building a great community and engaging with CSET to do professional learning,” she said.

As part of INSPIRE, teachers spend six weeks working with Stanford biology researchers on campus and meet weekly to work on educational transfer plans (ETPs), which outline how they will translate their lab experiences into classroom use.

CSET staff and faculty also introduce them to key research findings related to how students learn, ideas to encourage academic discussion in the classroom, ways to support student understanding, and strategies to integrate state and national science education standards into their lessons.

“The goal of the program is really to bridge classroom teachers with biology research experience in ways that transform their teaching for students,” said Rachel Zulick, a professional development facilitator with CSET and program coordinator for INSPIRE.

Bringing teachers to the lab

For Lia Kim, MA ’23, a ninth-grade biology teacher at James Logan High School in Union City, joining INSPIRE this summer was a way for her to tap back into research.

“The ability to work with a Stanford professor to conduct research in the biological realm is what really attracted me to the program,” said Kim. “My interest in science came before my desire to become a teacher, which is why INSPIRE is a dream come true.”

Kim says that INSPIRE — and the assistance it affords her and her cohort, which includes stipends paid throughout the program — has reaffirmed her commitment to teaching.

“Being plugged into resources and having a support system that encourages and helps to fund our classrooms, makes this the greatest job in the world for me,” she said.

Bringing the lab to the classroom

Once the summer portion of the class is complete, teachers continue to get professional support the following school year in the form of a stipend to cover some classroom supplies and a visit to their classrooms from Stanford biology researchers, who talk about their work with the students.

“The researchers who came in did a really good job of collaborating with me to make it interactive for the students and we picked topics that the students were interested in,” said Shannon Mueller, a biology teacher at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Calif., who was part of INSPIRE’s first cohort last year. “A couple of the students afterward were asking about what it’s like to be a researcher and began considering that as part of their career path.”

Enasia McElvaine, a middle school biology and earth science teacher at Westlake Middle School in Oakland, Calif., said that the visits from researchers sparked students’ curiosity and helped them realize that what they were learning in class was relevant to real-world science applications.

“Researchers came in and spoke to the class about cancer, which was relevant as it had affected some people they knew,” said McElvaine, who was also in INSPIRE’s first cohort. “They were very receptive to the researchers coming in, and it was a great experience for them.”

Bringing science to the broader community

The INSPIRE program’s summer activities culminate with a poster presentation at the end of August, where the cohort presents research findings along with Stanford biology students. 

At the science fair–style event, students, family, friends, and community members can ask questions about the individual projects.

Mueller, whose project studied how herbivores and drought affect oak trees, says she still shares her project poster with students.

“I think programs like this are beneficial because they allow teachers to better understand applications for what they’re teaching, and it translates into something we can pass on to students,” she said.

Zulick, INSPIRE’s program coordinator, said she particularly enjoys seeing teachers build their confidence in conducting scientific research and then relate it to their teaching. 

“There’s something really beautiful about seeing teachers be inspired and connected to science, to feel like scientists again,” she said. "And it immediately transitions to them wanting their students to feel this way too.”