2013 was another great year for the Summer Research Connection (SRC), Oak Crest’s annual collaboration with the Caltech Classroom Connection that gives high school students and K-12 science teachers paid research internships at Caltech or Oak Crest. This year’s participants conducted mentored research for over five weeks on one of six teams, including projects in chemistry, microbiology, materials science, earth science, and chemical engineering.
Unlike in school, where students are usually given “cookbook” lab procedures to follow with the goal of arriving at known answers, SRC participants gain first-hand knowledge of scientific research. Students are inspired to pursue science or engineering majors and careers, and teachers are inspired to incorporate hands-on learning and authentic research processes in their classrooms while becoming reinvigorated to teach science.
“This experience showed me how exciting exploring science can be, as we were able to do experiments that have never been done and get results that have never been found. I anticipated that I would gain research experience, but I had no idea that it would be such an incredible learning experience,” said Marissa Glidewell, a rising senior who conducted atmospheric photochemistry research at Oak Crest this summer.
The SRC is highly competitive, with more than 180 students applying for just 13 spots and more than 30 teachers applying for 7 positions. New this year, the program included an “SRC Affiliates” program, which provided research opportunities for an additional two teachers and two students for a 3-week period. Of the 24 participants, seven students and three teachers conducted their research at Oak Crest on one of two research projects.
Throughout the summer, students and teachers also attend seminars and workshops related to science, careers in science, attending college (students), or developing science curricula (teachers). For the first time this year, the students were given an extremely valuable opportunity to learn about how to afford college when Oak Crest board member David Levy volunteered his time to present a special workshop and share with the students his expertise on the topic.
The program’s culminating event, SRC Seminar Day & Banquet, took place on August 2, and gave the participants the opportunity to share with the public their research results from the summer. Teachers develop lesson plans based on their research projects, and each group’s projects are also shared on the program website.
More information about the Summer Research Connection can be found here.