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Outreach for High School Students & Teachers

Our Howard Hughes outreach programs offer Duke the opportunity to develop partnerships with area schools and to extend our scientific resources and facilities to the community. The main focus of the Outreach component in all of our Hughes awards has been the successful use of “hands-on” learning techniques to integrate both students and teachers into a research-rich environment.  Our Howard Hughes Precollege Program in the Biological Sciences was created in 1990 with funding from our first Hughes award. Our second award, in 1994, established our North Carolina Secondary Science Teachers Summer Workshops.

The Howard Hughes Precollege Program in the Biological Sciences

The Howard Hughes Precollege Program in the Biological Sciences is a summer research program for 15 rising junior and senior high school students from Durham and Orange counties. The program is designed to encourage high school students to continue with their science studies and to consider careers related to the life sciences. Since 1990, approximately 300 students have participated in this program. During the seven-week program, each participant conducts a mentored research project in an individually assigned laboratory at Duke with scientists who are especially committed to working with young students.  At the end of the program, the students complete scientific posters and present their research at the concluding All Howard Hughes Poster Session.  Students also participate in a group orientation to laboratory science; a morning seminar series given by Duke researchers; informational sessions on the college application process and college life; visits to several of Duke’s unique science facilities, and informal social activities. They receive a stipend for participation in the program.

Howard Hughes Summer Teachers Workshop: Integrating the Quantitative and Life Sciences

The Howard Hughes Teachers Workshop has been part of the outreach component of three of the previous four Hughes-funded undergraduate grants. The workshop is a one-week summer residential program designed to introduce North Carolina secondary science teachers to both the science and teaching of current topics in biology. Previous workshops focused on cell and molecular biology and genomics and bioinformatics. In our fifth Hughes grant, Integrated Systems: Integrative Sciences, the workshop has been redesigned to train teams of teachers to integrate the quantitative and life sciences and to prepare them to become peer leaders in their school districts. During the week-long summer program, 6 AP biology or environmental sciences teachers are paired with 6 AP calculus, AP statistics, or honors precalculus teachers to develop curricular units emphasizing the power of mathematical modeling to address biological questions. Participants receive a stipend, travel support, and on-campus housing.