The jury is in: High School Research Teachers Conference is making an impact

The Society welcomed 200 educators this past fall for its fifth High School Research Teachers Conference, sponsored by Regeneron. The conference is comprised of teacher-led sessions, where they are given an opportunity to share topics as varied as finding funding sources for their science programs to supporting underserved students to learning more about the Society’s science competitions and teacher resources.

Following the conference, the Society surveyed the 200 teachers and received responses from 128 participants. One hundred fourteen of those teachers reported that they had a “much better” or “better than expected” experience at the conference, with 98 teachers saying that the information shared was at the right level for them.

When asked how the conference would impact their future support of students in scientific research, the educators had this to say:

“I learned about new labs and ideas to scaffold the skills needed in student research, including literature searching, experimental design and statistics.”

“I’ve gained insights about ways to reach out to my community for support, which is important, since we are so far from major research institutions or industry.”

“I’m going to incorporate more articles from Science News into the curriculum.”

“My head is spinning from all the great resources, connections and conversations I had over the span of the conference. I have several things I want to employ, including, lobbying for the addition of the AP Seminar and research classes, starting a school research journal and new ideas for experimental models and sources of data.”

Teachers can sign up to be notified when the lottery opens next year on the High School Research Teachers Conference page here.