The Life Sciences Outreach Program
Enhancing biology education and connecting teachers from 2002 to 2021
Since 2002, Life Sciences Outreach (LSO) supported science education by providing a forum in which teachers, students and researchers engaged with each other about scientific research and discovery.
LSO served well over 500 teachers and 21,000 students from across New England, and Harvard faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from across disciplines contributed their time and expertise. In addition to providing teachers with a community of colleagues focused on enriching their content knowledge, LSO also served as a training ground for graduate students practicing critical teaching and science communication skills. After 20 years of partnering with high school teachers and their classes, Life Sciences Outreach offered its final program in Fall 2021. We are grateful to our energetic community of accomplished high school educators and dedicated Harvard faculty and students who together made LSO so successful.
Harvard continues to partner with K-12 educators and schools through a variety of programs across the University. If you are a science teacher, a school administrator, or a Harvard faculty member or Harvard student who is interested in STEM outreach, please see the contacts and links below.
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For Havard Faculty and Students
Susan Johnson, was a co-founder of LSO and is currently Assistant Director of Socially Engaged Learning at the Harvard Ed Portal. There, she oversees undergraduate students who teach and mentor K-12 youth and works with Harvard STEM PhD students and faculty who collaborate on high school STEM programming. In addition, Susan consults with science faculty and graduate students who are interested in engaging K-12 audiences. You can reach her at susan_l_johnson@harvard.edu.
For High School Teachers
Alia Qatarneh is the Amgen Biotech Experience Massachusetts Program Site Director at Harvard University. Since 2011, the Amgen Biotech Experience Massachusetts (ABE MA) Program has established itself as a leader in enhancing high school biotechnology education by offering opportunities for high school teachers and students to gain valuable experience with biotechnology laboratory protocols, generating familiarity with a variety of important molecular biology and biotechnology techniques. We aim to strengthen the impact of the ABE MA program by harnessing our network of teachers and schools, as well as existing outreach efforts at Harvard University, the Marine Biological Laboratory, Springfield Technical Community College, and Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School. ABE MA maintains its signature three-tiered approach of "kit,” “reagent,” and “visiting” partners and professional development opportunities for new and veteran teachers with a continued emphasis on fostering community and ensuring a high level of comfort with the laboratory procedures and equipment. If you are interested in participating in the ABE MA Program, you can email Alia at aliaqatarneh@fas.harvard.edu.
Susan Johnson was a co-founder of LSO and is currently Assistant Director of Socially Engaged Learning at the Harvard Ed Portal. She collaborates with the Public School Partnerships team on programming that serves teachers in the Boston and Cambridge Public School systems. You can reach her at susan_l_johnson@harvard.edu.
For the immediate future, click here to access LSO Fall Faculty Speaker Series lecture recordings and workshop materials from the years 2015 through 2021. Many LSO materials (such as faculty lectures and curricular materials created by teachers over the years) can also be found on the LabXchange platform.