Project Exploration’s youth programs give Chicago’s underserved students a chance to do scientific field work. ©Project Exploration, All Rights Reserved

In the 1990s, when Gabrielle Lyon worked with classrooms on the south side of Chicago, she shared her experiences on scientific expeditions in the Sahara Desert with teachers and students. It was a transformative experience for everyone: “The students and teachers just lit up with questions,” she recalls.

Lyon and husband Paul Sereno wanted to help students traditionally overlooked by science, particularly low-income minority youth and girls. They founded Project Exploration, a nonprofit science education organization, in 1999. “Out-of-school science programs are really a bastion of inequity,” and programs are “designed almost exclusively for ‘smart kids’—that is, kids who perform well academically—or for students whose families can pay for them,” observes Lyon. She says Project Exploration’s goal is “to level the playing field” for all students and to literally “change the face of science.”

The organization gives students “meaningful experiences with science” through the programs it provides to the Chicago Public Schools, explains Lyon. For example, the Sisters4Science program, an after-school program for girls, offers a year-long curriculum and opportunities for girls to work with female and minority scientists. One year, forensic scientists from the Illinois state police worked with students on a case “from evidence to trial,” says Lyon. The program “culminates with a showcase of knowledge for the community,” such as a family science night or recognition ceremony, she adds.

Other youth programs include Junior Paleontologists, which enables middle and high school students to study geology, paleontology, and anatomy; to do field work in Montana, South Dakota, or Wyoming; and to be mentored year-round until they graduate high school. Project Exploration’s Dinosaur Giants program trains high school students to serve as docents to the public at science exhibitions and helps them fulfill 20 or more hours of their service learning requirement toward graduation.

Project Exploration’s programs for teachers and students are free. Funding comes from contributions from foundations, gifts from individuals, and revenue from traveling exhibitions and lectures Sereno and Lyon present around the country.

Student programs have far-reaching effects. “Some of our kids have never left Chicago [and have] never been on a plane,” says Lyon. Their experiences with Project Exploration not only broaden their horizons but also “affect their whole family,” encouraging siblings to study science and attend college, she maintains. Students’ involvement with Project Exploration often continues for years after graduation, as students are encouraged to maintain contact, she adds.

Others agree this model works. On January 6, 2010, Project Exploration received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

A critical component of Project Exploration’s success is its partnerships with teachers, says Lyon. Teachers help identify participants and help Project Exploration stay in touch with them. Project Exploration staff use what they learn from teachers to help scientists work effectively with students.

Chicago-area teachers can apply for Project Exploration’s two-year Science Teacher Field Institute fellowship, which begins with a three-week summer science immersion experience. Last year, Oscar Newman, a seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher at Chicago Academy Elementary School, and seven other teachers spent a week visiting Sereno’s fossil lab at the University of Chicago and learning about geology, anatomy, and astronomy from research scientists. Then they flew to Montana for a week-long expedition with a team of scientists from around the world. “We were doing real field work,” such as excavating a femur from a triceratops, Newman reports.

During week three, Project Exploration helped Newman and the other fellows create class blogs for their students. On his blog, Newman posted audio recordings he had made of the scientists in Montana. “We don’t just teach students about dinosaurs, we teach them about how science is done,” he observes.

While the Chicago area has numerous professional development opportunities, Newman says “many are very short-term.” He considers the Science Teacher Field Institute “a more profound experience” that is “more likely to change the way I go about teaching science.” He sees “a real need for teachers to have a continuing professional conversation throughout their careers that doesn’t just include teachers,” and he urges teachers to seek organizations “that are filling this kind of role in their community.”

During the rest of the fellowship and beyond, Newman will stay in touch with the other teachers and scientists he met last summer, and will work with Project Exploration staff to enhance his lessons and train preservice teachers. He hopes to start a paleontology club at his school and to take his students to Sereno’s lab, which he calls “a welcoming place.”

For teachers and students outside Chicago, Project Exploration’s website (www.projectexploration.org) offers resources such as interviews with youth program participants, online correspondence with scientists, and classroom activities. Project Exploration’s Discover Your Summer project publishes an annual guide to summer science opportunities for middle and high school students, with information on more than 175 programs around the country. The guide is available free at www.projectexploration.org/dys.