Abstract
Boston University's (BU) CityLab program was created in 1991 as a partnership between faculty members of BU's School of Medicine and School of Education in response to the first call for proposals under the Science Education Partnership Awards initiative of the National Institutes of Health. CityLab's founders recognized the need for CityLab, a centrally-located facility for pre-college teachers and students to explore the burgeoning world of biotechnology. The mission has always been to share the excitement of science with students and teachers by engaging them in hands-on laboratory experiences, thereby fostering the development of a robust pool of scientists and physicians and a scientifically-literate populace. In order to reach more schools, particularly those that could not come to CityLab's facility in Boston, the CityLab team pioneered the mobile science laboratory concept with the launch of its MobileLab in 1998. Both CityLab and MobileLab have been replicated in the U.S. and abroad. CityLab has sustained itself because it has benefited from stable leadership, built and disseminated models for hands-on STEM education, embraced innovation by creating new programs to serve additional populations, and developed diverse funding streams. The CityLab program has been remarkable in its outreach, success, and longevity.
Highlights
Educational outreach programs play an important role in exposing students to STEM by complementing and augmenting conventional classroom learning and engaging young people so that they continue to pursue studies in these fields
During CityLab’s early years, evaluations focused on the number of students and teachers who participated as well as their demographics and reported satisfaction; limited attention was paid to learning outcomes
CityLab augmented these metrics by querying teachers and students about their experiences with CityLab’s programs, seeking evidence of learning gains, and monitoring the growth of the wait list to participate in CityLab programs
Summary
Educational outreach programs play an important role in exposing students to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) by complementing and augmenting conventional classroom learning and engaging young people so that they continue to pursue studies in these fields. It quickly became apparent that most high school science teachers, in Boston and elsewhere, lacked the scientific and pedagogical content knowledge, laboratory experience, and resources to teach biotechnology effectively in their own classrooms (National Research Council, 2006, 2007; Rutherford et al, 1989, and Watanabe, 2011).
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