Success Stories

Project T.R.I.P.S. has been effective in improving science education because of the individual successes of the programs developed by participating educators and their partner ISIs. Here are just a few examples:

The Florida Aquarium and Stewart Middle Magnet School
Debbi Berger
Director of Education
The Florida Aquarium
Tampa, FL

Project T.R.I.P.S. has been extremely valuable because of the interactions between The Florida Aquarium and Stewart Middle Magnet School. While our initial training at the T.R.I.P.S. Leadership Institute took two weeks, the follow-up activities have gone far beyond those initial meetings. Another team from Tampa joined us and has greatly enhanced what we have been able to do. Every year since the summer of 2001 has included expanded field trips for the students and catamaran eco-tours of Tampa Bay. The T.R.I.P.S. program has fostered a greater overall connection between Aquarium educators and school personnel, including extended aquarium outreach to the school and the submission of joint grant requests.

It is difficult to sum up all the ways Project T.R.I.P.S. has contributed to what The Florida Aquarium offers. What we have learned has permeated all aspects of what we do. We have created more inquiry-based school classes, stronger self-directed student activities for use at exhibits, higher quality teacher workshops, and more.
 
 

Project T.R.I.P.S. has impacted environmental education for thousands of students in the Chattanooga area. The training we received at the 2001Science Leadership Institute has inspired us to put a greater emphasis on inquiry learning in all classes taught at the Chattanooga Nature Center. A new partnership with two museum magnet schools now provides more opportunities to create learning experiences for students that incorporate ideas and strategies learned through the Project T.R.I.P.S. training.

At any informal science institution, teachers are best served when they are recognized as partners who share the common goal of engaging students in the excitement of scientific discovery. Accomplishing this type of recognition is not a simple task, of course. Because the day-to-day work schedules of most classroom teachers intersect infrequently with those of informal science institution (ISI) educators, there is greater responsibility on the part of the latter to ensure that all points of contact, particularly workshops, class field trip experiences, and various outreach programs, promote progress toward this common, student-centered goal.

For an ISI educator, assuming greater responsibility involves keeping yourself informed about the wide range of issues important to teachers, from local school board decisions to national trends in standards-based testing. It also involves making adjustments in your own work schedule to periodically spend time inside classrooms as guest instructor, science fair judge, research project consultant, or career day speaker, so that you are able to see first hand the challenges and rewards teachers face on a daily basis. Most of all, however, assuming greater responsibility means being open to innovation in the way you structure, present, and deliver, the resources of your ISI to better meet the needs of teachers.

Although I cannot honestly say that I have always fully assumed such responsibilities during my nearly 20-year career as an ISI educator, one particular instance merits discussion; my role as team member of Project T.R.I.P.S..

Our team’s main project involved the development of a museum field trip that enhanced an existing science unit. As part of the work toward that end I found myself teaching seventh grade classes on several occasions.  On one such day I gained a unique view of the challenges teachers face when I sat in on fieldtrip planning session. Because the 150 seventh graders I was teaching were headed to the Museum the next day for a five-hour fieldtrip, the planning period was devoted entirely to the review of a responsibility checklist that included packing “injection pens” for three insulin-dependant students, re-checking parental permission slips, arranging and gaining parental approval of alternate activities for particularly disruptive students, and reserving the school’s cafeteria as a staging area for loading five science classes onto three busses.

Up until that point I had spent a portion of every workshop I presented exhorting teachers to bring their students to the Museum, but gave very little thought to school-side fieldtrip issues. My involvement in Project T.R.I.P.S. (initially as a team participant and later as a discussion facilitator) has proven to be among the most rewarding experiences of my career. I never would have been a witness to that chaotic 45-minute planning period if I hadn't been involved with T.R.I.P.S., and I would be a less skilled museum educator without that key piece of ordinary middle school experience.

The students at the Western Middle School create 'habitat boxes'  (an activity the teams learned through project T.R.I.P.S.) to mentor partner elementary school students. In addition, "School at the Zoo" has been created as a result of T.R.I.P.S. Local school classes spend an entire week of the school year at School at the Zoo. 130,000 dollars to support this project was raised from several agencies.

The following comments were collected by the "School at the Zoo" director, Marcelle Gianalloni:

"The field trip (School at the Zoo) that I took in the seventh grade was the most educational field trip that I have taken in my life." Blake Conn - Highland Middle School

"I do think the program should be a routine because it is very educational. I learned a lot more there than I've learned in a classroom.” Steve Minks - Highland Middle School

"I cannot say enough about the entire experience! My students have been your very best ambassadors. Students that I don't even know have been coming up to me in the hallways, begging to be included next year. This was my 28th year in the classroom, and I can't remember ever seeing my students so engrossed in activities. " Kathy Deaver - Curriculum Coordinator Trunnell Elementary

"Many of our students would not be able to understand the content as well without this wonderful hands-on experience."

The staff at the Bramble Park Zoo and the Watertown Middle School correlated two of the project's curricula with science standards for South Dakota middle schools. All of the seventh grade science teachers in the local district are using T.R.I.P.S. recommended curricula. In addition, the Bramble Park Zoo created a long-range strategic plan that states it will continue to add programs that incorporate the content and teaching methods acquired through T.R.I.P.S.. They have begun working with five other ISIs in the area to further disseminate lessons learned during the T.R.I.P.S. training.

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