GRASSHOPR End of the Year Report
2015-2016

Submitted by the GRASSHOPR Coordinating Committee

GCC Graduate Students:

Amy Pochodylo (PhD Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Chantal Koechli (PhD Microbiology)

Jacob Uebler (PhD Chemistry)

Ezen Choo (PhD Pharmacology)

Public Service Center Advisor: Austin Fay

Program Statistics

List of Participants

Ithaca City School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Veronica Citerone It’s a Watery World! Belle Sherman Ashley Paolangeli 5th
Marika Nell It’s a Watery World Belle Sherman Elementary School Ashley Paolangeli 5th
Rachel Miller The Chemistry of Cooking Beverly J Martin Elementary School Hope Darcey-Martin 1st
Lisa Hiura Squishy Brains and Beastly Behaviors! Beverly J Martin Elementary School Kelsey Delany 4th
Estella Yee Exploring the Chemical World Beverly J Martin Elementary School Christine Barley 5th
Amy Pochodylo It’s a Watery World Caroline Elementary School Julie Wells, Jennifer Goodmark 2nd
Jacob Uebler It’s A Watery World Caroline Elementary School Jennifer Goodmark / Julie Wells 2nd
Gwen Beacham What is a cell? Cayuga Heights Elementary School Sierra Meyers Emberley 5th
Margaret Gustafson What is a cell? Cayuga Heights Elementary School Sierra Meyers-Emberly 5th
David Aichenbaum Irony, Sarcasm, Satire: What’s the Difference? Ithaca High School Kim Scholl 11th
Gregory Vogel Designer Plants: Genes and Plant Breeding Ithaca High School Robert Tuori 12th
Yudi Pardo Just Gelling! Biologically Derived Gels in Food Medicine and Beyond. Lehman Alternative Community School Heidi Lux 9th, 10th, 11th
Emily Riddle Nutrition for a Healthful Life: Figuring Out the Facts New Roots Fran Speight 10th, 11th, 12th
Stacy DeBlasio Feeling Green: How plants sense and respond to the environment Northeast Elementary School Larissa Anderson / Traci Washburn / Emily Kerry 1st

Trumansburg School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Laura Manella Mind Games Russel Doig Middle School Janice Beckley 5th
Ryan Post Mind Games: Understanding Our Brains Russel Doig Middle School Janice Beckley 5th

Geneva School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Ben Gutierrez Nutrition and Plant Breeding Geneva High School Lindsey Breese 10th, 11th
Claire Zoellner The US food system and related policies Geneva High School Alexe Dunham 12th
Charles Day Seeds, Bees and Flower Geneva West Street Elementary School Kathy Roberts, Sara Switzer, Andrea Zettlemoyer K
Elizabeth Cieniewicz Plant Health North Street Elementary Pat Zaroogian 5th
Ashley Leach “Plants and Insects in your garden” North Street School Pat Zaroogian 5th
Al Kovaleski Plant development and its relation with other organisms West Street Elementary School Maria Bond 2nd

Lansing School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Vaida Rimeikyte Introduction to neuroscience R. C. Buckley Elementary School Sheryl Williams 3rd and 4th
Mischa Olson Plants in Action! R.C. Buckley Elementary Nicole Ball 2nd
Elizabeth DuPre Neuroscience: The Nuts and Bolts of the Brain R.C. Buckley Elementary School Sherry Williams 3rd and 4th

Newfield School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Zoe Getman-Pickering The very hungry caterpillar and the giving tree Newfield Elementary School Barcia Beecken / Lisa Miller / Katherine Furstoss / Stephanie Gallogly 2nd
Julia Miller Very hungry caterpillar Newfield Elementary School Marcia Beecken, Lisa Miller, Katherine Furstoss 2nd
Charlotte Levy The Hungry Caterpillar and the Giving Tree Newfield Elementary School Marcia Beeken, Lisa Miller, Stepfanie Gallogly 2nd
Angela Possinger Plant defenses and soils Newfield Elementary School Cindy O’Rourke 4th
Stacey Heaver Bacteria and You Newfield High School Vicki Tibbals 9th-12th
Micaela Carignano Greek archaeology Newfield Middle School Juraj Gavurnik 6th
Jennifer Carrington The Science of the Past Newfield Middle School Juraj Gavurnik 6th

Dryden School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Courtenay Simmons Lego my lettuce Dryden Central Middle School Sten Anderson 7th
Janet Smith Africa: Continent or Country Dryden Central Middle School Tamara Hayes 7th
Jonathan Gonzalez Bubbles, fertilizers and improvisers Dryden Elementary Heather Williams 5th
Tyler McCann Bubbles, fertiilzers, improvisors Dryden Elementary Heather Williams 5th
Alyssa Wetterau Backyard Biodiversity! Dryden Elementary School Amy Drumluk, Ashlie Munson 5th
Sara Carpenter Weapons of Plant Destruction Dryden High School Karen Taylor 12th

Groton School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Joel Tripp The Brain and Behavior Groton Elementary School Jane Dahm 3rd

Enfield School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Lu Huang It’s written in your genes: An introduction to genetics Enfield Elementary School Brian Goodman 5th
Jackie Bubnell Biochemistry is Basic Enfield Elementary School Christina Steiner and Brian Goodman 5th

Newark Valley School District

Name Course Title School Teacher Grade
Elizabeth Ellis Microscopes: Up Close and Personal Newark Valley Middle School Shelby Hager 5th

Graduate Student Feedback

Skills Gained Through GRASSHOPR

Rapport with Teachers

Usefulness of Program Requirments

  • Workshop Participant Breakdown (based on Graduate Survey)
    • Engaging Exceptional Students: 6 participants
    • Lesson Planning: 14 participants
    • Active Learning: 12 participants
    • Classroom Management and Engagement: Middle and High School: 7 participants
    • Classroom Management and Engagement: Elementary School: 5 participants
    • Age Appropriate Teaching: 8 participants
    • Classroom Management and Engagement: Elementary School: 8 participants
    • Classroom Management and Engagement: Middle and High School: 3 participants

Overall Graduate Student Satisfaction with GRASSHOPR

Have Your Career Plans Been Influenced by GRASSHOPR?

Yes: 7 students

No : 35 students

If yes, how:

  • “I am more interested in a career focused around outreach.”
  • “I left the first GRASSHOPR course thinking ‘I want to teach 4th graders.’ While it’s not a completely new idea, the GRASSHOPR experience reinforced my goals to pursue multi-age education and outreach as at least a component of my future career.”"
  • “I am now open to the idea of becoming an outreach organizer for K-12 classrooms.”
  • “Previous to this, I was pretty confident that I wanted to teach at the University level. Now I think I would be just as happy teaching at the high school or middle school level.”
  • “GRASSHOPR helped me realize that I enjoy teaching much more than research, and will be looking for these sorts of jobs post-grad.”
  • “I’m thinking of doing more outreach now.”
  • “Would like to incorporate K-12 outreach or community outreach in general.”

Graduate Student Advice and Reflection

Best part of GRASSHOPR

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • Student engagement and excitement
  • Teaching
  • “Viewing my field through the eyes of 6th graders”
  • Working 1-on-1 with kids
  • Getting to know the kids
  • “Listening to the students use scientific vocabulary from previous lesson to discuss the current lesson.”
  • Learning about the diversity outside of Ithaca

Worst part of GRASSHOPR

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • Taking time out of the day to teach; balancing with research schedule
  • Adapting to teaching
  • Transporting materials
  • Getting in touch with the teacher
  • Reimbursement process (suggestions for online method; GRASSHOPR account)
  • Amount of time for planning lessons
  • Not reaching every student

Other Advice

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • Having a decent amount of time between the first meeting with the teacher and teaching the course, so there is time to tailor the course to teacher and students’ needs.
  • Go over specific, detailed lesson plans with the teacher and get their insight on students.
  • Keep refining lessons each session and get feedback from the teacher
  • Don’t take yourself too seriously!
  • Be Flexible
  • Assemble supplies and practice acitivities in advance (suggested: 2 weeks)
  • Do practice run throughs with people who are not fellow graduate students (or students in a different field) to make sure that you are thorough in explanations and set-up.

GRASSHOPR Improvement Comments

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • Open workshops to non-GRASSHOPR participants
  • Workshops earlier in the year and during evenings/weekends for more flexible participation
  • Updated website with more information about the program
  • Match programs with lessons that teachers are already doing in classrooms
  • More transparency about time it takes to teach, that groups may be placed in different grade levels than requested, and that groups may be teaching more than one class.
  • Host teacher contact issues ; clarify expectations with teachers
  • More hands-on instructional workshops
  • 1-on-1 meeting with GRASSHOPR committee could have been conveyed in email form
  • Better communication with Geneva folks (we are working on this!)

Selected Promotional Statements: Graduate Students

  • “After our first lesson about soils, a student told me that she used to like to sweep up”dirt" as a little kid, and that now she “LOVES soil”! I’m sure that the class wasn’t the only reason, but it was great to hear that students had gained an appreciation for soil as an important natural resource. "
  • “I enjoyed watching the light bulb shine for some of the students. When we came to a point in the lesson and I could literally see some having”Aha" moments."
  • “The best part of my experience was when students came up after class to ask how I got to where I was. They were seniors in high school deciding on their next step. The nature of my course exposed students to careers in several different education levels and interests within the food/agriculture sector (academic, regulatory, agriculture, nutrition, food industry, transportation, health department, retail), so I think it gave some insight into or options for alternative careers paths (which was one of the course goals).”
  • “Kids are natural scientists, they are inquisitive and they will do most of the work for you- if you can spark their interest.”
  • “GRASSHOPR offered the unique opportunity for me to share my scientific interests with students just beginning to understand the natural world. It was very rewarding to see the enthusiasm the students shared for the material I was presenting, asking truly fundamental questions.”
  • “The students in my classroom got visibly excited when I returned for lessons, and would want to start on our activities before I could even set up!”

Teacher Feedback

Course Subject Impact and Relevance

Rapport with Graduate Student Instructors

Overall Teacher Satisfaction with GRASSHOPR

Teacher Advice and Reflection

What did your students gain from participating in a GRASSHOPR mini-course?

  • Exposure to scientists and experts to whom they could relate.
  • Hands-on experience with concepts covered in class.
  • Connections to the outside world.
  • Establishing background knowledge teacher could build on.
  • Incorporation of concepts like public policy when learning about science.
  • “Cooperation and an increased awareness of how science affects their lives”
  • Access to equipment and supplies that the school could not provide
  • Interaction with female scientists!
  • “They gained first hand knowledge of what it might be like to become a REAL scientist. They learned about plant adaptations, and experiments (using a control), and were VERY interested in discussing observations with scientists. Kids LOVED this program.”
  • “A sense that scientist really use the information we study in class!”
  • “First, they were excited to see what someone who is only a few years older than they are is able to do in the field of environmental science as a graduate student. Next, the idea of studying the long-term effects of herbicides on soils is a direct application of the information that we were investigating when reading”The Omnivore’s Dilemma." The combination of meeting a real person who is studying real issues associated with food production provided a wonderful opportunity to take something from the abstract to the real world."
  • “They learned NEW material, which is so important in enrichment classes.”

What elements (materials, presentation style, etc.) of the GRASSHOPR course most enhanced student learning?

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • Incorporating teacher feedback
  • Developmental appropriateness of activities and material
  • Hands-on material
  • Balancing student interest and scientific concepts
  • Seeing, touching, experimenting.
  • Discussions involving student experiences and background knowledge

In what areas should training be offered to better equip graduate students for coming into a K-12 classroom?

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • How to communicate with younger students
  • Simplifying reading material to lower grade reading levels; differentiation
  • “Just an understanding that the schedule of classroom teachers is very different than most people’s jobs.”
  • “Group management—-when kids raise their hands grad students need to ask.”… what do you want to know?" This will help group focus. Sometimes kids want to share a story and this can become long and unfocused."

Best part of GRASSHOPR

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • “Nice to have a fresh source cover a needed topic”
  • Engagement and activities
  • Interactions with Cornell students
  • “The graduate students brought insight and fresh learning into the classroom environment. They were a great role model for my female students about women in science.”
  • Introduction to new teaching methods
  • The graduate students!
  • Making curriculum relevant to real life
  • “Students were able to see this really cool young person who was a working scientist. This really broke down some mental barriers. It was great for them to hear about her work in the field.”

Worst part of GRASSHOPR

Adapted and condensed from survey responses

  • Too short; that it ended
  • Juggling communication and setting up program with teaching responsibilities
  • Tying into class curriculum
  • Graduate instructors that didn’t follow through (1 case)
  • Lack of closure with graduate students leaving
  • Only hosting one topic

Other Comments/Suggestions

  • Send out teacher survey right after course ends so teachers can provide specific comments on student learning, etc.
  • Offer fall courses
  • Weather or geology courses
  • Promote GRASSHOPR in OCM science kits as a value-added service
  • Stopping by a staff meeting to present about GRASSHOPR
  • GRASSHOPR website is firewalled by the school; somehow make it more accessible