SEP offers several programs that take place at school sites throughout San Francisco. The majority of these programs are classroom-based partnerships: UCSF volunteers partnered with SFUSD teachers co-plan and co-teach a series of science and/or health lessons in the classroom. The UCSF volunteers are a diverse group, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and students in the professional schools of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, physical therapy, and nursing. An important feature of SEP’s classroom-based partnerships is that they are not single-visit "guest lectures", rather through these programs, SFUSD students benefit from sustained contact with UCSF volunteers.
Elementary School
There are two classroom-based partnership programs at the elementary level; they both occur during the spring and require a commitment of about 20 hours on the part of the UCSF volunteers and SFUSD teachers.
- MedTeach partners first-year medical students with teachers who have chosen lessons topics focused on health and/or the human body.
- Scientist-Teacher Action Teams (STAT) are composed of all other UCSF volunteers (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and students in the professional schools of pharmacy, dentistry, physical therapy, and nursing) and their teacher partners. Lessons may be in the areas of life, earth, and/or physical science depending on the expressed goals of the teacher partners.
SEP also leads SF (Schools Focused on) Science, which supports professional learning communities at elementary school sites with a focus on high-quality science education for all students. SF Science Teams consist of three to six teachers from a school site who collaborate to identify and work towards the achievement of a science teaching and learning goal for their grade-level or school.
Middle and High School
- Bio&ChemTeach is a classroom-based partnership program at the middle and high school level. Generally, one teacher partners with two to three UCSF volunteers to together teach a minimum of four lessons in the spring semester. The estimated time commitment for volunteers and teachers is 20 hours.
- A new high school program, Pathways, will begin in August 2009 - with recruiting starting this spring. Pathways teachers and scientists will work together for the entire school year, co-teaching science investigations and taking part in an intensive professional development program focused on strategies to promote the academic achievement of underrepresented minorities. The time commitment is estimated to be 150 hours and both teachers and UCSF volunteers will receive a stipend.