Our Impact

2010-11 Academic Year

For individual program elements, CRS has a robust program evaluation protocol in place, including surveys of teachers and volunteers, and in some cases students as well.  CRS analyzes empirical and narrative responses from these surveys to measure impact.

Growth in This School Year

615 teachers served (20% increase)

784 teacher information requests (15% increase)

274 volunteers recruited, prepared, and placed in classrooms (40% increase)

Teacher Survey Responses:

​100% of teachers reported that their students respond positively to science experiences.

95% of teachers "feel more informed about science resources" as a direct result of CRS support services.

The majority of teachers indicated that CRS services helped them to do more science and improve their science teaching, allowed them to 'see how effectively science activities engage all kinds of students', and spurred them to add a new science lesson, field trip, or other experience for their students this year.

Teachers indicated that observing the BASIS classroom presentations enabled them to understand their students' science knowledge and interest.  Half of the teachers were surprised by at least one of their students "participating or demonstrating skills above his/her normal classroom level".

BASIS Impact on Students

90% of teachers said students were engaged in hands-on experiences

82% of teachers indicated that their students effectively learned new science concepts.

92% of teachers indicated their students learned new science content, and had the opportunity to practice scientific skills such as observation, prediction, drawing conclusions, and communicating results.

85% of teachers reported that BASIS presentations were beneficial because they were relevant to the lives and learning interests of their students.

97% of teachers indicated that their students were asking relevant questions and 95% said that their students were fully engaged during volunteer lessons.

Over 95% of teachers indicated the lessons were structured well, age-appropriate, and well-managed.

Teachers and students valued the content, vocabulary, hands-on activities, opportunity to share ideas & ask questions, and the chance to learn about individual scientists' backgrounds.

In a positive development, 70% of teachers stated that their principals support the importance of science teaching, with nearly one-third indicating their principals provide planning time and actively encourage classroom time for science experiences.

CRS is a wonderful organization whose sole focus is to help teachers increase the amount and quality of science instruction. Their creative use of graduate student volunteers, their thoughtful, standards-based science lessons, and their background support (with planning lessons, locating resources, planning field trips, etc.) had had a direct impact on the quality of science instruction in my kindergarten classroom." – Lorraine Mann,  Oakland Unified School District

Thank you for your support and the resources you have extended to teachers. It’s great to know we can count on you to help us find what we need to teach science." – Berkeley Unified School District teacher

Personalized reports, mail, and email information support are the CRS services which I have relied on the most. With insufficient time to gather materials or seek out new curriculum links, I have called on CRS to help me fill in the gaps. CRS has come up with something relevant and helpful every time, usually on short notice." – Berkeley Unified School District teacher

CRS services help me to be a better teacher.  The science lessons provide a chance for me to observe different teaching styles; the social events helped me meet colleagues and learn about new venues and teaching ideas; the email and mail information is helpful and  teacher-friendly."--Oakland Unified School District teacher

Thank you for putting science back into the classroom and for inspiring me to refocus my efforts to teach the importance of science/engineering in everyday life.--2nd Grade Teacher, Oakland Unified School District

CRS has become my lifeline to the people and organizations that promote hands-on science teaching and learning in elementary school.  It keeps me learning and connected". 4th/5th-Grade Teacher, W Contra Costa USD

Volunteer Survey Responses:

Over 90% of volunteers felt that their lessons went smoothly, including everything from classroom management to the structure & length of their lesson.

98% indicated that students participated in the Question & Answer portion of their presentation.

100% responded that students actively participated in the hands-on activity portion of their lesson.

Over 85% of volunteers said that students were at least somewhat interested, with 35% being strongly interested, in their science background.

CRS is super sweet (awesome like candy)!  This was my first time teaching in this program and I think CRS did a great job providing training for me.  I look forward to teaching again!" --Magnets Are Sweet Volunteer

We were quite struck and pleased by questions of how we got in to our science careers and what interested us about our fields.  The students were very inquisitive during the question and answer sessions and really seemed to enjoy the presentation as a whole." --2010-11 Graduate Student Volunteers

At the end one of the volunteers asked if the kids now thought science was fun and they screamed YES!" --2010-11 Graduate Student Volunteer

The teacher herself was fascinated with what we had to share with the class, and would ask us questions just like her students! It was very fun." --2010-11 Volunteer

[Volunteering] helps me better understand the school system and state of public education. It also helps me improve my public speaking and interaction skills." --2010-11 Volunteer

It was a blast, as usual! The kids were such a pleasure to talk with. They were creative and open-minded, and they even wanted us to come back and do another lesson!" --Graduate Student Volunteer

[Volunteering] helps remind me how fun science is." --Graduate Student Volunteer

My respect for teachers grows every time!" --2010-11 Volunteer

It's great to see the students get excited about science. Oftentimes the teacher is very interested, too, and I hope this encourages them to incorporate more science into their regular lesson plans." --Graduate Student Volunteer

It is really fun to give back to the community by sharing my passion for science." --2010-11 Volunteer

Even though this was our first time in the classroom, the experience has already been extremely rewarding!  When the teacher asked the class why we were there, one kid responded, "to help us be smart" and another to help them get interested in science.  I think that their curiosity and willingness to learn is just a great thing to see and know that we have helped in some way!" --BASIS Volunteer

I am passionate about improving science education and literacy in our country. If I inspire an interest in science in even just one student, I feel that my time spent has been more than worthwhile." --Graduate Student Volunteer

​From the Students:

I really enjoyed it.  It was really cool how we actually got to see real brains from different animals."

THANK YOU!!!  I really appreciate how hard you guys work!!!  This was an interesting and special experience I will always remember.  When I get older now I might want to work as a scientist."

I learned that when you are a scientist you can study anything."

You were really great!  I might go to CAL too."

It teaches you something and you remember it because it's fun!"

It was fun.  The simulation acted out something really similar to real life."

It really made me more interested in the unit we are studying."

I think the best part was when they were instructing us, because it was easy to tell that [the volunteers] loved what they were doing."