Linking social justice to hands-on genetics demonstrations in order to excite high school students about science

The Stanford University Genetics Department, Tech Museum of Innovation, and Overfelt High School in San Jose, California have partnered to engage high school students in hands-on science activities that highlight the practical applications of content taught in biology classes. These activities address the national crisis in science education and the critical shortage of low-income, ethnically diverse youth entering science careers. Museum-based genetics demonstrations, developed to promote science that is thought-provoking and meaningful to local communities were adapted and piloted by university graduate students at Overfelt High School biology classes. One demonstration, Marvin Anderson's Nightmare, shows students how science can support social justice causes, in this case to free an innocent man from prison. This activity begins with a Court TV documentary explaining how Marvin Anderson was sentenced to life in prison. Students are given two fictitious DNA samples, one from the crime scene and one from Marvin. They run the DNA on an agarose gel and discover that Marvin is innocent. Students watch the remainder of the documentary that confirms their findings and stimulates discussions about how science can be linked with social justice. Pre- and post-evaluation surveys indicate significant changes in students' excitement about science and desire to explore similar science projects. This community-based dissemination project has been piloted with five classes and future dissemination includes expansion to other classes at Overfelt, the 10 remaining high schools in the school district, and community-based organizations that reach out to low income students and engage them in experiential learning.