Get Involved

SASSAk12 collaborates with K-12 educators to provide relevant, engaging activities for their students with a special focus on the intersection of science and society. 

There are multiple ways for K-12 educators to get involved with SASSAk12:

• Through SASSA in the Classroom, you have the opportunity to work with us to develop a custom, inquiry-based educational module for your students
• SASSA in the Classroom can also bring some of our established modules into your classroom for a day of hands-on learning
• You and your students can also work with a college mentor to develop their own research project that solves a social problem using science through our YERP program 
• You and your students can also participate in outdoor, summer research projects through our SASSA in the Field program

Interested in collaborating with SASSAk12 to develop a new educational module for your classroom? Or do you want to get SASSAk12 programming into your classroom or school? We invite teachers, administrators, schools, and districts to click here to get involved! 

There are three ways K-12 students can get involved in SASSAk12: 

• SASSA in the Classroom 
• Youth Engaging in Research Program (YERP)
• SASSA in the Field

Each of these programs offers you a chance to do hands-on activities that make learning fun! Through these programs, you will make your own scientific and social observations, solve problems creatively, and let your voice be heard. 

Would you like to see how science and social studies are connected and used to solve real world problems? Click here to read more about SASSA in the Classroom!

Have you noticed a problem in your community that could be solved using scientific approaches? Read about how you could work with a college mentor to develop a project through our YERP program!

Want to get your hands dirty and learn about archaeology and other opportunities to learn outside? Click here to learn about our summer research program, SASSA in the Field!

Interested in participating in a SASSAk12 program? Please have a parent or legal guardian contact us for more information about our K-12 programming.

College students can get involved with SASSAk12 through our PREP program. PREP participants are at the core of our K-12 programming and can participate in SASSA in the Classroom, YERP, and/or SASSA in the Field.

What can you do as a PREP participant?

• Design educational curricula in collaboration with K-12 educators
• Teach and present hands-on learning activities to K-12 students in their classrooms
• Mentor K-12 students as they develop and conduct original research projects
• Develop and lead community-based fieldwork projects
• Share your research with a broader audience through public SASSAk12 presentations

By getting involved, PREP participants will have professionalization opportunities to enhance their CV or resume, network with various community partners through educational and outreach experiences, and gain experience communicating their research with non-specialists. 

If you are interested in joining our next PREP cohort, please complete this survey.

SASSAk12’s programs enhance K-12 student learning by:

• Providing real world applications for topics they are studying;
• Introducing topic areas and issues that are not included in the standard curriculum;
• Exposing students to different ways of learning and thinking as well as new perspectives and objectives;
• Increasing the visibility of diversity within STEM fields and higher education, including underrepresented gender, ethnic, and racial identities; and
• Demonstrating the importance and applicability of science today.

We achieve these by:

• Introducing and connecting multiple, interdisciplinary perspectives;
• Utilizing hands-on activities which increase learning by engaging the senses;
• Emphasizing critical thinking skills;
• Connecting diverse role models working in secondary and post-secondary education with students who might not necessarily examples of these people in their everyday lives; and
• Bringing together professionals and community members from across the community.

Community volunteers, especially parents and grandparents, are vital to SASSAk12’s programming and achieving our mission. We are committed to inclusion and collaborating as a community. 

Volunteers can help by:

• Supporting and guiding students through hands-on activities during SASSA in the Classroom and SASSA in the Field programming
• Attending and promoting SASSAk12’s speaker series
• Connecting SASSAk12 with institutions or community organizations which may be interested in partnering with or utilizing SASSAk12’s programs, such as local historical societies or museums

If you would like to participate in SASSAk12, we would like to hear from you! We welcome volunteers from all walks of life, especially retired teachers or researchers. 

If you are a member of a Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO), or coordinate educational opportunities for their schools, we will be happy to come and talk to you about SASSAk12, how it can support teacher-needs, and how it can benefit their children. Please contact us.

SASSAk12 has partnerships with various colleges, departments, museums, institutions, and professional organizations around the Twin Cities. Our partnerships bring diverse community members, their voices, and their expertise to our programming, thus strengthening and enriching it. We are eager to expand our community-based networks. 

Community partnerships are mutually beneficial. By partnering with SASSAk12, we offer other organizations or institutions access to community engagement opportunities. This can be achieved in multiple ways. Organizations can have their employees participate as SASSA in the Classroom volunteers, or if possessing a relevant research background, as YERP mentors. 

Another option is for our partners to work with SASSAk12 to develop an educational module, which may be used in our SASSA in the Classroom programming. K-12 students benefit from these partnerships through exposure to high-quality and cutting-edge research explained and developed by experts in the field.

If you are part of an organization that is interested in partnering with SASSAk12, such as a university department, research institution or business, or other nonprofit, please contact us to start a conversation on how we can work together to support K-12 education.