FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY®

Student Talent Ambassadors for Results

Monday, Aug 14, 2023

A new, research leadership program, Student Talent Ambassadors for Results (S.T.A.R.), connects our experienced FAUHS student researchers with more novice students at our school to help guide them through STEM activities in the Owls Imaging Lab, as well as other labs and classrooms. The program, coordinated by FAUHS Research Coordinator, Katherine Hendrickson, is supported in part by a U.S. Department of Education Javits Grant.

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S.T.A.R. students develop leadership, instructional and mentoring skills through training and implementation across a variety of program pathways allowing them to transition from assistants to instructors before becoming trainers/mentors ultimately reaching the coveted lab researcher role.   

  • S.T.A.R Lab Assistants - students begin as lab assistants and provide valuable support to S.T.A.R Lab instructors, teachers and staff across a variety of curricular experiences and research projects.   
  • S.T.A.R. Lab Instructors & Mentors - Students who wish to mentor and instruct must pass a rigorous training protocol and adhere to high program expectations before embarking on the mentoring and teaching of younger students through guided curricular activities or science fair projects. Instructors and mentors often become the trainers of younger lab assistants aspiring to be future instructors. This results in instructors achieving the next level - lab trainers.  
  • S.T.A.R. Lab Trainers - Lab trainers meet high expectations to effectively instruct and train future lab instructors and typically will move on to become immersed in educational research as Lab Researchers.   
  • S.T.A.R. Lab Researchers - During the 22-23 school year, two of our founding S.T.A.R. lab assistants, turned lab instructors, worked diligently to become S.T.A.R. mentors, trainers and researchers. S.T.A.R's lab researchers, are offered the opportunity to take Directed Independent Research credits through the College of Education, resulting in presenting their research at national educational conferences with the ability to pursue the publication track.   

Since Spring 2022, The S.T.A.R. program has grown from a founding group of 11 lab assistants to a community of over 40 dedicated S.T.A.R students. The S.T.A.R. program has expanded the number of curricular experiences we provide along with student mentoring opportunities. In the 22-23 school year alone, S.T.A.R students reached over 1000 students across 48 curricular experiences/activities. Research on the programs' effectiveness has shown that both our S.T.A.R instructors and students benefit from the educational interactions resulting in high levels of student engagement and renewed interest in science and research, ongoing research will evaluate the programs’ effectiveness on learning outcomes.   

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