JPL has hosted 28 interns during its three years of participation in the program, which is offered by the California State University system in partnership with government agencies that include the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and NASA, as well as private research organizations. Out of the 12 STAR undergraduate and graduate school interns participating in the program at JPL this summer, five have been offered teaching positions for the fall. The seven other interns are continuing their education.
“Providing research opportunities for STAR participants is one of many ways JPL adds to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education in California and nationwide,” said Petra Kneissl-Milanian, a JPL education program specialist who coordinates the STAR program. “Our scientists and engineers enable these aspiring science and math teachers to experience real, hands-on science and absorb the culture of JPL specifically and the scientific environment in general. These young teachers will carry this excitement into their future classrooms, teaching and inspiring learners.”
Bryan Rebar is the director of the STAR program and works out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where the program was founded and implemented by their Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education and is administered on behalf of the California State University system. “Science and math teachers benefit from firsthand experience conducting research at cutting edge labs because it gives them an understanding and a vision for how science and math skills are applied in careers,” Rebar said. “We provide STAR fellows with support to translate their experience into classroom practice.”
With the guidance of a research mentor, STAR fellows work on original science projects for eight to ten weeks. Weekly education workshops and an opening and closing conference provide context and opportunities for the participants to consider how the “doing of science” may be translated into the “teaching of science.” The ultimate goals of the STAR program are to enhance the recruitment, preparation and retention of quality science and math teachers.
Skyler Lassman worked as a STAR intern this summer in JPL’s Propulsion and Materials Engineering Section on electric propulsion systems and recently took a job at Orcutt Academy High School in Orcutt, Calif. teaching physics and biology. “What will be the most beneficial is being able to know how JPLers conduct research, what tools they use and how they solve problems,” Lassman said. “For example, I now have a clearer idea of why it is important to teach students to write lab reports and how to interpret graphs.”
JPL STAR intern Jessica Potter will be teaching biology at Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino this fall. This summer, she worked in the Water and Carbon Cycles Group on remote sensing as applied toward studying Earth’s ecosystem. “Perhaps the most important thing I will take away from my time at JPL will be the ability to guide my students interested in pursuing science,” she said. “I have just become the advisor of the new science club created by two students who want to attend Caltech. They were so excited that I had worked at JPL, and I am looking forward to assisting them in achieving their dreams.”
Lassman and Potter weren’t the only participants this summer who were recently hired as teachers: Shin Adachi is working at the Synergy Quantum Academy in Los Angeles, Andrew Giang at Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights and Adorina Moshava at Taft High School in Woodland Hills.
The STAR Program hopes to change the way science and education are viewed. “We believe that STAR offers a transformative experience,” said Rebar. “Rather than entering a classroom as a teacher of science, STAR fellows arrive thinking as scientists who have the skills to teach.”
