Sparking a passion for science needs to start at a young age. Biology professor Steven Farber and program director Valerie Butler have devised a unique way to do just that. Their secret? Zebrafish. Farber and Butler work side by side with science teachers in Baltimore City schools to develop a series of hands-on science projects that engage young students.

University of Pennsylvania, Institute of Regenerative Medicine

BioEYES @ Penn received an educational endowment to engage local students! The Ralph and Elaine Redding Brinster High School Bioscience Outreach Fund supports BioEYES and prepares high school students to attend the annual Elaine Redding Brinster Prize in Science or Medicine. This prize celebrates innovative biomedical science discoveries and students learn about the research being honored through classroom-based activities as well as a lab tours and scientist Q&A at Penn. The Brinster family embodies the spirit of inspiring the next generation of scientists and we are so thankful for their commitment to local students.

Emma Koehn, The Age

“St John’s principal Verona Gridley said the school had run the BioEYES program over the past few years, and it was a valuable part of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum. ‘It just engages our students so much. They just love the hands-on [nature] and seeing that growth across the week,’ she said.”

Monash Lens

“‘The whole goal of the program,’ [BioEYES coordinator Laura Reid] says, ‘is to de-stigmatise science, make it accessible for all students, regardless of their background, socioeconomic status, cultural background, gender, wherever students may come from. It's available, it's accessible, and encourages everyone to take an interest in science. Unsolicited feedback from previous BioEYES students has demonstrated that this program has been instrumental in influencing them to pursue degrees in the FMNHS [Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences] … Through our outreach efforts, we hope to continue to offer students across Victoria the same opportunities to consider careers as a research scientist.’”

CBS2, New York, NY

“A public school partnership that aims to increase interest in science among young students is in New York City for the first time this year. Mount Sinai's Black Family Stem Cell Institute is hosting BioEYES at schools across East Harlem. CBS2's Jessi Mitchell shows us how the fish are becoming fast friends.”

Learning Unboxed, Annalies Corbin, The Past Foundation

“Katie Benton is a 20-year veteran teacher, and she helps bring programs like BioEYES into Barrington Elementary School. Katie is joined by Louise and Evren, two rising fifth-graders who had the opportunity to participate in BioEYES in Katie’s classroom. We’ll learn what it was like for Katie to bring this program into her class, what it was like for the students who participated, and how being exposed to the program changed the students’ perspectives.”

Learning Unboxed, Annalies Corbin, The Past Foundation

“Today we’re talking about a critical piece of the educational landscape that we haven’t really touched on in previous episodes: how university faculty can leverage their expertise to craft programming that gives back to students and the local community (and, inversely, how teachers can bring effective college programs and faculty into their classrooms).”

Jason Kelce, The Philadelphia Citizen

"Growing up, I loved science. I had great teachers who made it come alive, and lots of opportunities to explore it in school. But that’s not the case for everyone. Having a daughter has made me think a lot about the discrepancies in math and science and the under-representation of women—as well as minorities, and people with disabilities—in science-related jobs. That’s why I was so psyched to learn about BioEYES, which is run out of Penn’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or IRM."

Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires

"For 10 years, North County elementary students have been learning about how zebrafish populations multiply and grow through the BioEYES science program. This year, the program itself is multiplying with plans to go into more than twice as many schools throughout the region. BioEYES. . . has been used for a decade by Williams College professor Martha Marvin and Williams students to teach about genetics and basic biology in third- and fourth-grade classrooms."

Sheilah Kast & Melissa Gerr, WYPR "On the Record"

"What do you have in common with a fish? Dr. Steven Farber, from the Carnegie Institution for Science, has a good idea: turns out, it goes clear down to the genes. He tells us about his research on heart disease using--of all things--the tiny zebrafish. He’s also created a short beginners’ genetics curriculum based on fish development -- called BioEYES. We also visit Mt. Washington School and meet BioEYES outreach educator Terrone Jasper, and science teacher Leaha Charles Pierre, whose students are experiencing BioEYES for the first time."

Heather Simonson, KSL-TV

“A new program has brought microscopes and scientists into the classrooms of underserved kids in Utah. Through first-hand experience, they’ve been learning what’s possible. Miguel Nevarez, a 2nd-grader at Meadowlark Elementary, said he likes the stripes on zebrafish. ‘I also like how their eyes just boggle out to me like they’re looking at me. I like science a lot, like every day I wonder how many planets are in the solar system or whatever,’ he said.”

Maryland Public Television

“BioEYES, brainchild of Dr. Steve Farber, brings hands-on lessons about life science into Baltimore City classrooms.”

Nicole Haloupek, GENETICS

"In classrooms from Philadelphia to Melbourne, kids huddle around a common interest: live zebrafish. The fish are not class pets—they are part of a hands-on educational experience provided by BioEYES, a program that earned its creators, geneticist Steven Farber and education expert Jamie Shuda, the Genetics Society of America’s 2018 Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education. BioEYES has come a long way since its creation in 2002. 'We’ve been around for 15 years and reached over 120,000 kids,' says Shuda. 'But it literally started with me driving around Philadelphia with fish in my backseat.'"

Peta Owens-Liston, ARUP Laboratories

"What better way to teach children about science than to let them watch life develop right before their eyes? Some Utah schoolchildren are getting that opportunity with the help of volunteers from ARUP Laboratories through BioEYES, a national science education program offered through University of Utah (U of U) Health. Their reaction as they look through a microscope and see living cells evolve within zebrafish eggs is memorable, says Sue Reese, an ARUP medical technologist who spent a week last April with fifth-graders as a BioEYES volunteer."

Jenn Smith, The Berkshire Eagle

"Over the course of three weeks, third-grade science classes in three local schools have been able to witness an underwater circle of life from the comfort of their classrooms. For eight years now, through the Winter Study program at Williams College, faculty and students have brought a hands-on biology program called BioEYES into area schools, adapted from a program at the University of Pennsylvania."

James Gaines, Upworthy

"Students at Commodore John Rogers School in Baltimore, Maryland, walk into class on a Monday and find their room transformed. Two high-powered microscopes sit at the back of the class, and each group of desks is topped with a transparent tank occupied by two small, delicate fish: one male, one female. For the next week, these kids will be scientists, and the fish are going to help them."

Andy McKeever, iBerkshires.com

"It starts with a question: what do baby zebrafish look like? Then observation, noting what adult zebrafish look like and how they act. Then a hypothesis, an educated guess on what the babies will look like. And finally, an experiment, breed the fish and see. That's the scientific process third-graders are going through at Lanesborough Elementary School."

Tara García Mathewson, Education Dive

"Dissecting a frog has long been the standard animal lab in schools, but those that can afford to acquire and store live animals for an extended experiment like the one with zebrafish could be more effective at engaging students and teaching them the role of scientists.... This type of instruction can be more engaging for students and also more relevant to their future exploration of the field."

Laura Ascione Devaney, eSchool News

"'We expected the students to increase their understanding of the concepts they learned, but what is most promising is the positive increases in their attitudes towards the practice of science,' said first author Jamie Shuda, EdD, director of Outreach and Education at Penn’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine."