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The United States urgently needs science-based solutions for a multitude of policy issues, and a basic societal understanding of science is essential to gaining public trust and addressing these issues. However, there is a disconnect between professional scientists and engineers and K-12 science education. Many students will graduate after 13 years of school having never met a scientist. This missed opportunity is not an issue of supply. There are over 7 million practicing scientists and engineers in the U.S.; if every scientist spent just one hour a year in a classroom, each student would get at least three visits from a scientist every single year. Here, we propose the Federal Science Project: a federally funded, nationwide program to bring scientists into all K-12 schools across the U.S. with the goal of reaching every student, regardless of geographic location. Scientists and engineers across disciplines and sectors would undergo training in communication skills and cultural competency, connect with classrooms via a national database with support from full-time staff, partner with teachers to deliver interactive lessons aligned with existing curriculum and standards, and receive appropriate compensation. Close partnerships between scientists, engineers, teachers, policymakers, and community partners in science education (science centers, museums, etc.) would invigorate the trust-based connections needed for 21st-century science education and policy transformations.

The Scientist in Every Florida School (SEFS) program was started in 2019 with a long-term vision to connect Earth systems scientists with public K-12 schools in Florida and therefore create long-term scientist-teacher partnerships. SEFS fulfills personalized requests to create meaningful and impactful interactions to support teacher pedagogy and student learning. We have as part of our mission a focus on mainstream public schools, and in particular, those that are Title I. We also are committed to working with at-risk teachers. The major components of our program include the scientist-teacher partnerships, focused professional development workshops on Florida’s Earth systems (air, water, land, and life), classroom visits, and other web-based activities. Although still only in its first few years, the project and its more than 600 scientists have a wide reach with over 850 teachers and 53,000 students participating in our programs, which were delivered virtually in the 2020-2021 school year covering about 60% of Florida’s 67 counties. In this article, we describe our programmatic features as well as recommendations for those who could implement similar programs.

The extensive sedimentary sequence of Florida preserves evidence of prehistoric life spanning some 40 million years into the past. This paper describes the results of a three-pronged professional development (PD) program conducted in November 2019 in which Florida teachers from eight counties gained knowledge and experience about the process and content of paleontology at an active field research site in northern Florida. Working alongside scientists, 15 elementary, middle, and high school teachers collected 5-million-year-old fossil vertebrates and made scientifically important discoveries that advance understanding of Florida’s prehistoric life. The PD included three components: (1) a pre-trip webinar; (2) a morning tour of our museum exhibits to scaffold teacher’s understanding of the kinds of fossils they would find; and (3) the actual day-long field experience collecting fossils. A post-PD evaluation revealed gains in knowledge about, and experience with, fossils and paleontology. We also found that overall satisfaction with the PD underscored the importance of each of the three components supporting one-another—resulting in a more informative and rewarding learning experience for the participants. Fossils and the science of paleontology are a gateway for STEM learning and this subject and its extensions are applicable to existing standards in earth and life sciences at many grade levels.