The annual Science, Teachers, and Research Summer (STaRS) Experience introduced 10 science educators to research fundamentals, but its goals reached far beyond the lab.

NIEHS hosted the eight-day program in July for educators from middle and high schools and a community college. The program provided local teachers with an opportunity to develop laboratory skills and expand their knowledge of the growing field of biotechnology. It also introduced them to tools and teaching strategies to improve science instruction in their schools and classrooms.

“The STaRS program has been an important initiative at NIEHS for more than a decade,” said Ericka Reid, Ph.D., director of the Office of Science Education & Outreach (OSEO). “We’re honored to help broaden teachers’ understanding of basic biomedical research and support the next generation of scientists and informed citizens.”

Putting research in perspective

Huei-Chen Lee, Ph.D., the K-12 science education program manager for OSEO and the architect of the STaRS program, designed this year’s curriculum around a molecular cloning exercise. Molecular cloning is an integrated process used in modern biotechnology and biomedical research. Over four days, Robert Petrovich, Ph.D., and his team in the NIEHS Protein Expression Facility provided expert, hands-on guidance as they taught participants the steps in this process — from DNA cloning to protein expression and finally protein purification.

Lee interspersed these hands-on sessions with classroom presentations to illustrate how the processes covered in the laboratory exercises have enabled advances — such as bacteria engineered to produce insulin and mosquitoes genetically modified for malaria control. She described how NIEHS scientists use similar tools to understand how genetics, environmental exposures, and lifestyle factors interact in human health and in diseases like breast cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

“We try to give the teachers the big picture,” Lee said. “Although we design the program to help them learn and develop essential skills, we want them to understand that they are using tools that are key to advancing disease prevention and improving public health.”

Thinking like a scientist

The program also offered the teachers ideas and resources to help them relay the big picture of science to their students. Lee shared strategies for translating complex scientific concepts into engaging, age-appropriate lessons.

Michael Humble, Ph.D., of the Genes, Environment, and Health Branch and a former high school chemistry teacher, led the group through a series of activities designed to teach the scientific method in an active and entertaining manner. Using simple props, he walked participants through hypothesis development, experimental design, and statistical analysis. In one scenario, teachers role-played students who became sick at school. The exercise sparked an energetic session of probing questions, information analysis, and simulated water sampling that led to the “discovery” of a contaminated water fountain.

“This was a wonderful and lively group of teachers, and they had fun with it,” said Humble. “But the activities introduce serious concepts and encourage them to think like scientists.”

The STaRS attendees also had the opportunity to meet with an educational consultant to help them translate what they learned at NIEHS into practical classroom lesson plans.

A well-established, popular program

STaRS began in 2012 as a summer-long, in-depth professional development opportunity for one teacher. In 2014, the OSEO expanded the program to reach more teachers and broaden its impact. Working in partnership with the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research, NIEHS now recruits educators from across North Carolina, primarily from public schools.

The number of participants in the program varies from year to year depending on funding and other factors, but interest remains steady. As of 2025, almost 200 instructors have completed the experience.

“Many teachers come into the program with very little knowledge of the work we do at NIEHS and the National Institutes of Health,” Lee said. “By the time they leave, they know what we do, how we do it, and why it matters — and they carry that knowledge back to their schools and communities.”