BioEYES In the News

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Junior scientists uncover secrets of the zebrafish, and get hooked on STEM

Emma Koehn, The Age

“St John’s principal Verona Gridley said the school had run the BioEYES program over the past few years, and it was a valuable part of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum. ‘It just engages our students so much. They just love the hands-on [nature] and seeing that growth across the week,’ she said.”

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BioEYES open: How zebrafish capture budding scientists’ imaginations

Monash Lens

“‘The whole goal of the program,’ [BioEYES coordinator Laura Reid] says, ‘is to de-stigmatise science, make it accessible for all students, regardless of their background, socioeconomic status, cultural background, gender, wherever students may come from. It's available, it's accessible, and encourages everyone to take an interest in science. Unsolicited feedback from previous BioEYES students has demonstrated that this program has been instrumental in influencing them to pursue degrees in the FMNHS [Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences] … Through our outreach efforts, we hope to continue to offer students across Victoria the same opportunities to consider careers as a research scientist.’”

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“The Zebrafish Effect: How BioEYES is Inspiring Young Minds, with Katie Benton”

Learning Unboxed, Annalies Corbin, The Past Foundation

“Katie Benton is a 20-year veteran teacher, and she helps bring programs like BioEYES into Barrington Elementary School. Katie is joined by Louise and Evren, two rising fifth-graders who had the opportunity to participate in BioEYES in Katie’s classroom. We’ll learn what it was like for Katie to bring this program into her class, what it was like for the students who participated, and how being exposed to the program changed the students’ perspectives.”

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BioEYES - Mrs. Benton's Class at Barrington Elementary

Barrington Elementary School, Columbus, OH

“Barrington Elementary students in Mrs. Benton's Class were one of the first in Ohio to participate in a project called BioEYES. Upper Arlington Education Foundation was proud to partner with PTO to support the cost of this project. Check out the amazing video the students made to share their learning.”

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“How Universities Can Better Engage K-12 Students Through Community Outreach,” with Jamie Shuda of BioEYES

Learning Unboxed, Annalies Corbin, The Past Foundation

“Today we’re talking about a critical piece of the educational landscape that we haven’t really touched on in previous episodes: how university faculty can leverage their expertise to craft programming that gives back to students and the local community (and, inversely, how teachers can bring effective college programs and faculty into their classrooms).”

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"Jason Kelce's Eagles Education Season: Week 9"

Jason Kelce, The Philadelphia Citizen

"Growing up, I loved science. I had great teachers who made it come alive, and lots of opportunities to explore it in school. But that’s not the case for everyone. Having a daughter has made me think a lot about the discrepancies in math and science and the under-representation of women—as well as minorities, and people with disabilities—in science-related jobs. That’s why I was so psyched to learn about BioEYES, which is run out of Penn’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or IRM."

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"Hooked on science"

Alissa Widman Neese, The Columbus Dispatch

"The fourth-graders prodded the petri dish with a plastic pipette. They carefully used the tool to suck up debris and dirty water from the habitat filled with dozens of tiny fish embryos. One child paused; another gasped. During daily cleaning Thursday, they discovered that some of the embryos had finally emerged from their clear eggs. They were now zebrafish larvae. 'We have four ... five ... six?' announced a stunned Evan Liu. The 9-year-old excitedly turned to his classroom’s guests at Barrington Elementary School in Upper Arlington and guided the group to a microscope to view the transparent creatures up-close."

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"A Three-Year Model for Building a Sustainable Science Outreach and Teacher Collaborative"

Jamie R. Shuda, Valerie G. Butler, Robert Vary, Noora F. Noushad, and Steven A. Farber; Journal of STEM Outreach

“This paper explores the practices of 'model teachers' from multiple grades, who are empowered over a three-year period to deliver BioEYES' hands-on science content autonomously, as compared to the program’s standard co-teaching model (BioEYES educator + classroom teacher). The authors found that BioEYES' professional development (PD) workshop, classroom co-teaching experience, and refresher trainings assist teachers in gaining autonomy to teach the program’s curricula.”

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"Williams' BioEYES Program Expanding to Six More Schools"

Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires

"For 10 years, North County elementary students have been learning about how zebrafish populations multiply and grow through the BioEYES science program. This year, the program itself is multiplying with plans to go into more than twice as many schools throughout the region. BioEYES. . . has been used for a decade by Williams College professor Martha Marvin and Williams students to teach about genetics and basic biology in third- and fourth-grade classrooms."

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“BioEYES: See-Thru Science!”

Sheilah Kast & Melissa Gerr, WYPR "On the Record"

"What do you have in common with a fish? Dr. Steven Farber, from the Carnegie Institution for Science, has a good idea: turns out, it goes clear down to the genes. He tells us about his research on heart disease using--of all things--the tiny zebrafish. He’s also created a short beginners’ genetics curriculum based on fish development -- called BioEYES. We also visit Mt. Washington School and meet BioEYES outreach educator Terrone Jasper, and science teacher Leaha Charles Pierre, whose students are experiencing BioEYES for the first time."

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“Volunteer Program Brings Microscopes, Scientists Into Utah Classrooms”

Heather Simonson, KSL-TV

“A new program has brought microscopes and scientists into the classrooms of underserved kids in Utah. Through first-hand experience, they’ve been learning what’s possible. Miguel Nevarez, a 2nd-grader at Meadowlark Elementary, said he likes the stripes on zebrafish. ‘I also like how their eyes just boggle out to me like they’re looking at me. I like science a lot, like every day I wonder how many planets are in the solar system or whatever,’ he said.”

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"BioEYES: 2018 Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education,"

Nicole Haloupek, GENETICS

"In classrooms from Philadelphia to Melbourne, kids huddle around a common interest: live zebrafish. The fish are not class pets—they are part of a hands-on educational experience provided by BioEYES, a program that earned its creators, geneticist Steven Farber and education expert Jamie Shuda, the Genetics Society of America’s 2018 Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education. BioEYES has come a long way since its creation in 2002. 'We’ve been around for 15 years and reached over 120,000 kids,' says Shuda. 'But it literally started with me driving around Philadelphia with fish in my backseat.'"

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"Something (Zebra) Fishy is Going on in Classrooms: BioEYES Turns Kids on to Science,"

Peta Owens-Liston, ARUP Laboratories

"What better way to teach children about science than to let them watch life develop right before their eyes? Some Utah schoolchildren are getting that opportunity with the help of volunteers from ARUP Laboratories through BioEYES, a national science education program offered through University of Utah (U of U) Health. Their reaction as they look through a microscope and see living cells evolve within zebrafish eggs is memorable, says Sue Reese, an ARUP medical technologist who spent a week last April with fifth-graders as a BioEYES volunteer."

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"BioEYES program breeds curiosity, enthusiasm for science in Berkshire classrooms"

Jenn Smith, The Berkshire Eagle

"Over the course of three weeks, third-grade science classes in three local schools have been able to witness an underwater circle of life from the comfort of their classrooms. For eight years now, through the Winter Study program at Williams College, faculty and students have brought a hands-on biology program called BioEYES into area schools, adapted from a program at the University of Pennsylvania."

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"This teacher gave kids fish instead of lectures, and it's turning them into scientists"

James Gaines, Upworthy

"Students at Commodore John Rogers School in Baltimore, Maryland, walk into class on a Monday and find their room transformed. Two high-powered microscopes sit at the back of the class, and each group of desks is topped with a transparent tank occupied by two small, delicate fish: one male, one female. For the next week, these kids will be scientists, and the fish are going to help them."

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"Kicking It Up a Notch: Becoming a Culturally Relevant Science Educator"

Valerie Butler, The Node

"I want to talk about how you can take your science teaching to the next level, where young people, and especially underrepresented young people (people of color, LGBT, immigrants, girls, etc.), find what you’re teaching engaging, relevant to their lives, and which research shows that if done thoughtfully, enables them to achieve a higher level of learning. I’m not suggesting you change your science content. Instead, I’d like to illustrate the importance of modifying your teaching to be culturally relevant.”

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"Williams Brings 'BioEyes' Back To Lanesborough Elementary"

Andy McKeever, iBerkshires.com

"It starts with a question: what do baby zebrafish look like? Then observation, noting what adult zebrafish look like and how they act. Then a hypothesis, an educated guess on what the babies will look like. And finally, an experiment, breed the fish and see. That's the scientific process third-graders are going through at Lanesborough Elementary School."

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