Starting on July 28th, 2020, members of the Syosset Branch partnered with an ecology professor to teach scientific research to high school peers. The directive of the course series was to inspire and cultivate curiosity in participating students by introducing foundational concepts and procedures in scientific research, such as asking meaningful questions, gathering credible data and evidence, making logical conclusions and inferences, and communicating effectively.
All students of the class were newly immigrated international students with varying degrees of proficiency in English. Volunteering members of the AYLUS Syosset Branch were able to facilitate the learning process as teaching assistants and lead bilingual discussions in breakout rooms on Zoom.
On 7/28, which was the 10th meeting of the series “Foundations of Scientific Research”, there were three sections. The first section was on the last three SEPs ( Science and Engineering Practices) in NGSS (Next Generation of Science Standards): constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating and communicating information. Short videos were followed with group discussions. The second section was in-depth reading of science literature where students were assigned to three breakout rooms led by three TAs (Alan, Jasmine and Leo). Students were asked to read then paraphrase the chosen article on an epidemiology study, sentence by sentence. This section has been proven highly effective in encouraging students to speak up and think in English from 3 meetings in the previous week. The research was conducted in China comparing southern and northern populations with Myasthenia gravis. The last section was on effective writing, watching a short video on “Cohesion & Coherence in Essay Writing” together.
On 7/30, which was the 11th meeting of the series FSR, there were three sections. The first section was on two statistic methods: regressions and ANOVA (analysis of variance). Students carried out both analyses on sample datasets in R-studio. The second section was in-depth reading of science literature where students were assigned to three breakout rooms led by three TAs (Alan, Jasmine and Leo). Students were asked to read then paraphrase their chosen article, and practice for presentation in the final meeting. The last section was on the first three Cross Cutting Concepts in NGSS: patterns, cause and effect, and scale, proportion and quantity. Short videos were followed with group discussions.
On 8/1, which was the 12th and final meeting of the series FSR, students went to breakout rooms with their TAs to polish and practice their powerpoint presentations during the first hour. During the second hour, student presentations were given, followed by Q&A sessions with questions mostly from TAs.
On 8/8, which was the first meeting of the series “Scientific Research of EEB (Ecology and Environmental Biology), students and TAs were first asked to brainstorm about the pressing issues to our local and global communities. Then the methods of literature search were presented then practiced in breakout rooms led by TAs (Alan, Jasmine and Leo). Finally we went through various data sharing websites to search for datasets suitable to address our scientific questions. Both coming up a meaningful research question and finding the right dataset were very challenging for both students and TAs.
On 8/11, which was the 2nd meeting of the series SREEB, students first watched two short videos on sustainable living and making composting. Potential actions at home were pondered upon and discussed briefly. Then the class was divided into three breakout rooms led by three TAs (Alan, Jasmine and Leo) to discuss their individual research topics: warming and sea level rise, air quality before and after COVID-19, invasion of exotic woody vines on Long Island.
This is our branch’s first step towards building community cohesion and embracing cultural exchange. The following students volunteered in the FSR and SREEB courses: Alan Huang (10 hours), Jasmine Chen (10 hours), and Leo Cheng (10 hours).
