Opening Imaginations: Student Futures in STEM

25 Years of Openings

May 2022

In our first week of celebrating 25 Days of Openings, we're highlighting one of our favorite themes from the week, Opening Imaginations, that shines a light on student voices, their wonderings, and how they see themselves in science, today and in their future lives.

Founding Stories with Nicki Norman and Anne Jennings

To start off 25 Days of Openings, we spoke with our founders, Nicki Norman and Anne Jennings. They shared with us the story of how they met, and what outreach in schools was like during the first few years. They had many realizations about what teachers needed and how to connect them with local educational resources. Best of all, they shared many stories of students having fun with science, and how it impacted (and continues to impact) BASIS volunteers to keep supporting students to experience the wonders of science.

In this class of 6, 7 year old kids, I’d done the whole thing, and so "Anybody have any questions?" This little girl in the back of the room raised her hand and she said “I just have one question. So, are you married to a scientists or are you a scientist your own self?” And I said “I’m a scientists my own self." She straightened up in her chair, and the little girls around her did too, and there was this sense of ‘I could do that. I may not do that, but I could do that’ And I think that that’s an exciting experience when that happens to you, and it doesn’t have to be around gender or racial differences but any BASIS volunteer suddenly getting the feeling that some kid in the class went ‘Wow, this is interesting. This could be fun.” I think that’s what keeps them coming back to do it again.

- Nicki Norman, Emeritus Board Member, CRS Co-Founder

Opening Imaginations through Champions of Discovery

This school year, we received so many beautiful, creative, scientific submissions of student work! One of our favorite challenges was during December, when we encouraged students to ask questions to BASIS volunteers, find things they have in common with a scientist, think about what they would like to study one day, and imagine themselves as a scientist.

Opening Imaginations: Stories from Scientists

We've learned from speaking with scientists and science educators over the years that science and imagination go hand in hand. To see oneself as someone who can think, do experiments, and solve problems like a scientist creates a sense of belonging and identity with science that can last a lifetime. Here are a few excerpts of some of our favorite stories with scientists Emily King, PhD, Tanner Frank, and Bobbye Smith, PhD, who remember the moment they saw themselves as a scientist.

Emily King, PhD: My interest in marine science has been fairly long. When I was a really young child, I watched the movie Free Willy for the first time. That was my real entrance into what I decided to think about later on. I watched the VHS so many times it broke. My parents had to buy a new one. Eventually I [asked], “How do I work with killer whales.” They [said] “That’s called a marine biologist.” That truly did set me on a path. I’ve refined that and changed direction– I don’t study whales– but I do still use that kind of inspiration.

Tanner Frank: Since I was very little I always loved being outdoors, being in nature, observing animals. I always wanted a pet but I was allergic to dogs, so that didn’t pan out for me. Once I learned to read I got really into dinosaurs and learning about all the animals and creatures that lived before the present time. So from the time I was five years old, I had the goal of becoming a paleontologist. Until I got to college and studied abroad with an ecology program in Costa Rica. For a bit I was wondering if I wanted to study interactions between organisms in modern day and conservation, but in the end I was able to fuse the two. I now study paleo ecology, which I think is the best expression of my interest in science.

Bobbye Smith, PhD: Growing up in Florida, I would swim in the tropical waters in Miami and I would imagine myself as being a mermaid or being a sea creature. I knew at 12 years old what I wanted to be when I grew up: a marine biologist. It was hard during that time because there really weren’t many examples of female scientists, particularly marine scientists, with the possible exception of this amazing person called Dr. Sylvia Earle. I was so excited reading about the underwater experiments that Dr. Earle was doing off the coast of Florida. When I was talking to my guidance counselor and trying to figure out where I might go to college to achieve my goal, I was told directly by my counselor in high school, “Girls can’t be scientists.” Not only did that make me mad but I knew that was wrong. And it reinforced my decision to become a marine biologist.

The mission of CRS is to empower teachers and STEM professionals serving schools in historically marginalized communities to activate TK-8 students’ curiosity about the world, foster critical thinking, and inspire children to imagine future career pathways. We envision a community of educators, scientists, families and partners working together to build school cultures that equip all children to explore the world around them and build the skills needed to become innovators, problem solvers, environmental stewards, life-long learners and leaders. CRS leads a dynamic network, fostering relationships and collaborations that leverage expertise and resources to transform science teaching and learning toward greater equity, opportunity, and success for all students.

Our goal is simple: help teachers give students more opportunities to “do science” – to ask questions, test ideas, get their hands on real science activities. We need to inspire the next generation of thinkers, makers, problem solvers, and leaders!