Inspiring Tomorrow's Scientists

“Our program is a beautiful integration of focused career counseling in the context of science with the support and mentorship needed to help identify those possibilities and for students to flourish.”

-Dr. Bridget Mulvey, Associate Professor, School of Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Studies, Kent State University

Students in the advanced science classes at Heritage Middle School in the Painesville City Local Schools are thinking deeply about their futures. Climatologist, zoologist, plant ecologist, botanist, and forester are just a sampling of the science-infused professions these 6th and 7th graders are interested in already. One is even considering work as an “Invasion Ecologist” (a scientist who studies the establishment, spread, and impact of invasive and non-native species), because he likes learning about animals.

With a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, two professors, colleagues, and close friends at Kent State University (KSU) designed a program called ELLOS, “Educating Learners & Leaders for Occupations In Science,” to introduce young, Latinx students to a variety of science-related careers and to offer them the support they need to envision those titles belonging to themselves one day. 

The program is designated for a minority population that is under-represented in science fields, explain Drs. Cassandra Storlie, Division of Lifespan Development & Educational Sciences, and Bridget Mulvey, School of Teaching Learning & Curriculum Studies, of KSU; and it is in the midst of its second year working with students at Heritage. Latinos, they remark, are one of the fastest growing populations; yet they continue to experience educational and economic inequity in exposure and access to college facilities and science careers. ELLOS aims to help families, teachers, and the community support the academic and career futures of these young people.

Assignments Intertwined with Science Courses

ELLOS is intertwined with the students’ science studies at the middle school. Assignments, while supplemental to the middle school science content standards, are completed by students both during and outside of class. Drs. Storlie and Mulvey designed specific curriculum modules – one for 6th grade and another for 7th grade – which are presented to students once a month via Google classroom. These units focus on leadership and self-advocacy; science workforce demands; supporting and motivating each other; and information related to college/career readiness. Drs. Storlie and Mulvey continue to refine the assignments with feedback from Heritage teachers. Students also read and journal about specific insights in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” (grade 6) and “What Color is Your Parachute? for Teens” (grades 7), which encourages them to explore their own personalities, interests, and leadership qualities. In addition, the students learn about “The Lives of Scientists” by reading biographies of contemporary scientists in a variety of fields and disciplines.

“We want to touch students at a young age who may not get exposed to these careers or leadership opportunities otherwise,” says Dr. Storlie. “Career beliefs stagnate by the time students hit high school. By then, it’s too late. Students no longer believe they can get into a science career or participate in any kind leadership opportunity. I feel this is a project targeted to students who need it the most.”

Dr. Mulvey adds that too often science careers are caricaturized in the minds of students and even some teachers. “This project opens up the idea that a science career is not just one kind of thing that is done in one kind of place,” she explains.  “Science itself is very diverse. You don’t need to love all science to consider a science career. There are so many different types of science to consider and places where it is done.”

Support from Mentors

An integral component of the ELLOS project is a mentoring program that pairs KSU undergraduate and graduate students with the middle schoolers to provide “near-peer” support. The university students are pursuing majors in a variety of science-related fields, yet they have broad backgrounds they can draw upon to meet the interests of the middle school students they work with. Contact between students and mentors varies, but Dr. Mulvey says the connection has been formatted to work like social media. 

Mentors, who were recruited from the Scientistas organization (women who love science) at KSU, have access to the younger students’ assignments on Google classroom and are able to check-in to see what they have accomplished and add positive and encouraging remarks. Informal, virtual conversations between the two also deepen the relationships and the younger students begin to view their mentors as role models — possibly the first college science major they have met. The younger students are encouraged to ask questions of their mentors to learn more about various science disciplines and to discover what it takes to succeed at the college level. The mentors are selected for their ability to understand and be welcoming to the middle school students as well as their own desire to interest others in science.  

Dr. Storlie explains that deep learning is entrenched in the ELLOS project as the middle school students will be exposed to science career possibilities and will work to develop leadership skills over the course of many months. And as one student pointed out: “We should start exploring careers in 7th grade so that we can learn about the career for five to ten years, and when we are ready to achieve that, we will have a full understanding of it.”

Dr. Storlie believes there are lessons that all educators can learn from the ELLOS project. “The stronger connection you can make to what you are doing in the classroom with something students might use the rest of their lives – such as in a job or career – can be very meaningful to students.

“Also, the more exposure under-represented students get to career professionals who look like them, the more they recognize that that career is possible for them. “There is a recognition and an acknowledgement that, ‘Gosh, if I knew more about this, this could really take me somewhere.’”

“Students need to know about what’s possible,” adds Dr. Mulvey. “They need to know that science educators think it’s possible for them to have a career in science. Our program is a beautiful integration of focused career counseling in the context of science with the support and mentorship needed to help identify those possibilities and for students to flourish.”

Student Comments on Google Classroom

“I want to be a biologist because I like learning about life and how it works.”

“We should start exploring careers in 7th grade so that we can learn about the career for five to ten years and when we are ready to achieve that, we will have a full understanding of it.

“The scientists and doctors are heroes in the Coronavirus pandemic because they are helping people and are trying to make a vaccine….”

“I think [doctors and researchers] are trying to help our country and even our whole world…I appreciate that they care so much and that they are putting in money, time, and a lot of effort to help us.”

For more information about ELLOS, please contact Dr. Cassandra Storlie, cstorlie@kent.edu or Dr. Bridget Mulvey, bmulvey@kent.edu