The goal of SynBERC’s RET program is to build long-term collaborative partnerships between middle and high school science teachers, community college faculty, and the SynBERC research community by involving teachers in synthetic biology research experiences, and helping them to translate their research experiences and new knowledge into classroom activities. We sponsor eight teacher-fellows each summer in our labs at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.

SynBERC runs its RET program in close partnership with Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME). IISME is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1985 whose mission is to transform teaching and learning through industry/university/education partnerships. The IISME Summer Fellowship Program recruits teachers and provides each of our RET teachers with a peer coach who works with them throughout the summer. SynBERC RET teachers work full-time for 8 weeks and are paid a stipend. Each teacher develops an  Educational Transfer Plan (ETP) to transfer the results of his/her research into their classes in the fall.

Features of the SynBERC RET program:

• Teachers complete an eight-week paid Fellowship, working 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week with SynBERC investigators and postdocs.
• Each teacher is assigned a SynBERC mentor (usually a postdoctoral researcher or principal investigator) who works alongside the teacher in the lab and helps the teacher to develop a work plan for the summer.
• Each teacher is assigned an experienced peer-coach who works with them to develop the Educational Transfer Plan (ETP) for applying the summer experience during the academic year.
• During the summer and continuing on during the school year, teachers participate in IISME events with other Bay Area teachers. These events include the IISME Orientation, Midsummer social event, End-of-Summer Celebration, one-on-one Peer Coach sessions, and community group meetings.
• Teachers participate in academic-year follow-up programs organized by IISME.
• SynBERC encourages teachers to participate in our RET program for two consecutive years.

Curriculum, instructional units, and teaching resources

The following curriculum projects have been developed by teacher-fellows in the SynBERC RET program:

Bacteria Fuel (2009)
Author: Kate Trimlett, Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA
Grade level: High school

Biofuel Project (2009)
Author: Rowan Driscoll, Oakland Unity High School, Oakland, CA
Grade level: 9, 10

What is Synthetic Biology? (2009)
Author: Tom Huffaker, Piedmont High Schook, Piedmont, CA
Grade level: 11, 12, community college

Cells as Robots (2009)
Author: Saber Khan, San Francisco Friends School, San Francisco, CA
Grade level: middle school & high school

Synthetic Biology and the High School Curriculum (2009)
Author: James Dixon, Sharon High School, Sharon, MA
Grade Level: High school

Bacterial Cell Bio-Chemistry and Genomic Engineering (2008)
Author: Rowan Driscoll, Unity High School, Oakland, CA
Grade level: High school

An Introduction to the Field of Synthetic Biology Through Exploration of iGEM, an Undergraduate Synthetic Biology Engineering Contest (2008)
Author: Dirk VandePol, City College of San Francisco
Grade level: Community college

Got Synthetic Biology? (2008)
Author: Elsie Ovrahim, ASA Academy and Community Science Center, Oakland, CA
Grade level: 7

BioTech in Schools: A Website (2008)
Author: Saber Khan, Notre Dame des Victoires, San Francisco
Grade level: Middle school

Program contact: Kate Spohr, SynBERC Education Outreach Manager.