How and Why I Became a Biologist: WHS Science Pizza Talks
Creators: name: Olivier-Mason, Anique
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2019
Subjects: Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

description: This was the first talk in a currently ongoing monthly series called, The Brandeis MRSEC and WHS Present: Science Pizza Talks. Through a university-public school partnership, scientists from a variety of fields present to high school students for 20 minutes about their path into science and their current research. The talks are delivered once a month to a diverse group of Waltham High School students during their lunch period, where pizza is provided. Those who attend the talks include motivated students already on the track to college and also students still deciding what to do after high school. The lectures are well-attended by students (~50 students/lecture) and staff (2-5/lecture), and they generate a level of discussion about careers in science that may not have occurred otherwise. Many scientists make connections with students and staff beyond the Pizza Talk, and some discussions continue to take place long after the talk is over. The idea for the series emerged after a meeting with teachers, students, graduate students and staff. It is now maintained by a staff person at Brandeis University and a dedicated local teacher at Waltham High School. The first talk of the series focused on how the speaker decided on a career in research. Specifically, the speaker traced how her interest in veterinary medicine allowed her to stumble upon academic research, a field she had not previously known about until college. The speaker also emphasized how varied the field of biology is, and how many possible rewarding career paths are contained within it. Each month, a speaker is invited by the staff person to participate. She selects speakers who highlight the diversity within science and intentionally asks speakers from all genders, races, life experiences, and disciplines to participate. The speakers are encouraged to reveal moments of academic or professional resilience and discuss how they overcome their challenges. This helps address students’ misconceptions about what a scientist should look like and aims to normalize failure as a necessary part of a scientist’s journey. Selected speakers are provided with information about the series that includes travel logistics, video-recorded exemplars, and presentation templates. The speaker provides a photograph and a “blurb” that can be used to advertise the talk at the high school. With that information, the staff person edits the content for a poster, prints a large version of the poster, and brings it to the high school. The staff person provides speakers with one-on-one science-communication coaching before their presentation, coordinates the pizza delivery, attends every talk, and introduces the speaker to the audience.The teacher advertises the talk with the students using the large poster, tallies the number of attendees, and prepares the room and school for the visitors. The speaker delivers the same talk to students in two different lunch periods. Students complete “tickets to leave” and share what they liked and didn’t like from the talks. This report documents the start of a series that began in 2015, and there have been 24 talks since (as of this report’s publication). On average, 50 students attend each talk,and because there are two talks per scientist visit, ~100 students are impacted per month. While attendance is not taken during the talks, when students are asked to raise their hands if they have previously attended a talk in the series, most of the audience raises their hands. It appears that the talks have a strong following within the school, but to determine if they have also generated interest in science, the authors used data from the high school guidance counselor from 2012-2017. Below are the percentages of students (inclusive of all sciences, but not Psychology or Sociology) per graduating class that indicated they were "planning to major in a science subject in college." 2012: 14% 2013: 17% 2014: 22% 2015: 21% 2016: 28% 2017: 26% There is a correlation between the implementation of the Pizza Talk series and a modest increase in an interest in science among graduating seniors. Many of the participating scientists report that participating in the series improved their science communication skills because it gave them an opportunity to practice communicating complex science ideas in a concise manner and utilize effective visuals in their presentations. Participating in the series also has the benefit of conveying the importance of sharing life journeys as a way to connect with a community. The teachers report that the talks have made a positive impact on the students, and they appreciate that they are during lunch and therefore do not disrupt their academic day. The teachers consistently get feedback from their students about how much they enjoyed hearing about the scientists’ life stories and interesting research. This report describes a brief intervention for both the students and participating scientists, but the intervention requires a substantial commitment from local contacts from the participating institutions for at least one academic year. In 2016, the authors expanded the initiative to the Waltham Middle Schools, but did not add local contacts at the new schools. The team still had a school contact, but her time was spent primarily at the high school, so managing the event logistics was complicated for her. Also, the additional commitment of managing the expansion was not sustainable for the staff person at Brandeis either, so after the pilot year, the middle school expansion ended. In the future, if there was additional personnel at Brandeis and dedicated local contacts at the middle schools, an expansion of the series to the middle schools again would likely be successful. Additionally, in this report, the partners agreed that the costs of the series (travel for the speaker and pizza) would be covered by the academic partner. With a more limited budget, organizers could reduce the costs by identifying additional local partners (local government, companies or parent organizations) who would be willing to contribute financially to the series. The Science Pizza Talks put high school students in contact with real scientists (who they are, what they look and sound like) and have sparked interest in pursuing science careers. The Pizza Talks have been a very successful program at Waltham High School and would be a strong addition to any outreach portfolio space. See below for a news article about the initiative.