Cultivating an Ecosystem of Community Science Education

This semester, Amherst students have taken their learning off campus through a unique biology and education studies course. In the class “Biology Outreach through Community-Based Learning,” students promote science education among children and the local community by leading biology-focused lessons at nearby schools and organizations. This community-based format creates engaging learning experiences for college and local K-12 students alike, making science more accessible for everyone in the Amherst community.

“By partnering with our community, we, as scientists, can learn more about people’s experiences and interests and be responsive to their needs,” Biology Laboratory Instructor and Coordinator Thea Kristensen said, who is teaching the class for the first time this semester. “A central tenet [of] this course is to invite people into learning about biology in a joyful and engaging way.”

The class was a passion project of Associate Professor of Biology Jeeyon Jeong, who passed away in October 2024 and who taught the course last spring. Her strong commitment to community engagement and accessibility has remained central to the new iteration of the class. “It was important to me to honor [Jeong’s] intentions for the course,” Kristensen said. “She strongly believed in making biology accessible, particularly to children in the community. My students and I have endeavored to do this throughout the course and in all of our interactions with the community.”

Students in the course spent the first half of the semester learning about pedagogical practices and studying core topics in biology, then began developing their own activities and lesson plans to share with the community. Recently, the class put on an event at the Jones Library centered around the question “What is a Biologist?” Kids learned about different fields within biology, including immunology, marine biology, and botany, through a variety of stations and activities.

“The event was a tremendous success, with about 70 attendees,” Kristensen said. “The students were so impressive in their ability to get each child excited about learning. It was such a joyful day.”

Rama Balagurunath ’26, a student in the class, was also excited about the Jones Library event. “It was so much fun and was a huge hit with the … two-year-olds,” Balagurunath said, who helped lead an activity teaching students about orca tracking and identification. “It was gratifying to see so many kids — and parents — get excited about biology and come away learning something new!”

The students have also enjoyed creating and carrying out lesson plans in local schools. Daphne Witherell ’27, a student in the class, taught three lessons at South Hadley High School. Witherell said that interacting with the students has been her favorite part of the course. “It has been so fun to get to know all of them and watch them gain more confidence in their science skills through active learning,” she said.

Balagurunath also appreciated these lessons and the connections they fostered. “The high school classes were … super fun because we were able to teach them more in-depth biology — mainly biodiversity and ecosystem health — over a longer period of time,” she explained. “Being able to go into the same classroom multiple times has been great, too, because the kids warmed up to us and we were able to develop a more comfortable camaraderie with them.”

Those relationships not only had positive impacts for local students, but for the Amherst students as well. “It is easy to get stuck in a routine of staying on campus almost all the time, and while Amherst College is lovely, I believe it is really important to gain exposure to perspectives and experiences that may be very different from what we typically see here on campus,” Witherell said.

Balagurunath also appreciated the opportunity to branch out from campus, and described the positive impacts of working with local students. “When you go out into the community and meet kids, talk to them, and understand them as both people and learners, you kind of train your brain to consider life on a different level,” she said. “I truly believe that teachers learn just as much, if not more, from their students as [students] do from their teachers.”

Kristensen, whose own research centers around community outreach, sees the benefits of this style of teaching for the field as a whole. “Community outreach is essential in the sciences,” she said. “Too often, people have felt excluded from the scientific process and therefore felt reluctant to accept knowledge gleaned in this way. This has important implications for how we live our lives. If people do not feel welcome in the space, it makes it more difficult to accept medical treatment or to consider how we are interacting with the environment.”

The students in “Biology Outreach through Community-Based Learning” will continue teaching and learning for the rest of the semester, and it seems they would definitely recommend this format. “Take an ed[ucation] studies class before you graduate!” Balagurnath said. “You won’t regret it.”