Jamie R. Shuda, Valerie G. Butler, Theresa M. Nelson, Jaqueline M. Davidson, Auset M. Taylor, and Steven A. Farber; Zebrafish

“Project BioEYES celebrated 20 years in K12 schools during the 2022–2023 school year. Using live zebrafish (Danio rerio) during week-long science experiments, sparks the interest of students and teachers from school districts, locally and globally. Over the past two decades, BioEYES has been replicated in different ways based on the interest and capacity of our partners. This article discusses several of the successful models, the common challenges, and how each BioEYES site has adopted guiding principles to help foster their success.”

Jamie R. Shuda, Valerie G. Butler, Robert Vary, Noora F. Noushad, and Steven A. Farber; Journal of STEM Outreach

“This paper explores the practices of 'model teachers' from multiple grades, who are empowered over a three-year period to deliver BioEYES' hands-on science content autonomously, as compared to the program’s standard co-teaching model (BioEYES educator + classroom teacher). The authors found that BioEYES' professional development (PD) workshop, classroom co-teaching experience, and refresher trainings assist teachers in gaining autonomy to teach the program’s curricula.”

Valerie Butler, The Node

"I want to talk about how you can take your science teaching to the next level, where young people, and especially underrepresented young people (people of color, LGBT, immigrants, girls, etc.), find what you’re teaching engaging, relevant to their lives, and which research shows that if done thoughtfully, enables them to achieve a higher level of learning. I’m not suggesting you change your science content. Instead, I’d like to illustrate the importance of modifying your teaching to be culturally relevant.”

Jamie R. Shuda, Valerie G. Butler, Robert Vary, Steven A. Farber; PLOS Biology

"We have analyzed 19,463 participating students’ pre- and post-tests within the program to examine their learning growth and attitude changes towards science. We found that at all grade levels, BioEYES effectively increased students’ content knowledge and produced favorable shifts in students’ attitudes about science. These outcomes were especially pronounced in younger students. Having served over 100,000 students, we find that our method for providing student-centered experiences and developing long-term partnerships with teachers is essential for the growth and sustainability of outreach and school collaborations.”

Chandra Harvey, The Chesapeake Bay Trust via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine

"Jodie Kavanaugh, a YWYB teacher at Hamilton Elementary/Middle School, recently wrote, 'my students are still talking about how ‘cool’ BioEYES is, even after two years!'... What do students learn? 'That a lot of pollution can kill fish,' one student remarked. Another echoed a sentiment of many of our students that 'there are things that everyone could and should do to help the environment.'"

Lara D. Hutson, Jennifer O. Liang, Michael A. Pickart, Chris Pierret, and Henry G. Tomasciewicz; Zebrafish, Special Issue: Zebrafish in Education

The guest editors of this special issue of Zebrafish included BioEYES co-founder Dr. Jamie Shuda.

"When researchers converged on Madison this year at the 10th International Conference on Zebrafish Development and Genetics, a number of them, along with a contingent of teachers, administrators, and students, met over the course of two sessions of the 'Zebrafish in Education' Workshop. The zebrafish system has great potential to impact learning in a wide range of fields, including, but not limited to, developmental biology, genetics, evolutionary biology, toxicology, environmental science, disease mechanisms, drug development, and genetic engineering. Many groups throughout the world have begun using zebrafish in a wide variety of ways to facilitate K–12 and undergraduate learning."

Valerie Butler, The Node

"Most of us, I’m sure, can remember that AHA moment in school when we realized that science is pretty cool. Imagine how it might be for a student enrolled in a school lacking the resources to teach science well, or who was never given the opportunity to excel in anything, let alone science. What if the opportunity for an AHA moment never arrived? This is, unfortunately, the truth for many primary and secondary school students, and it is especially so for low-income and predominantly minority communities. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds often carry stereotypes that scientists are old, white men who are out of touch with society, and many youth believe that science careers are out of their reach. the challenge then, is how to excite children about science such that they want to make a career of it?”

Jamie Shuda and Danielle Kearns-Sixsmith, Zebrafish

"For most students and teachers exposed to Project BioEYES curriculum, this series of laboratory activities offers both measurable and immeasurable reactions. For students, the experience has provided a 'glimpse into their own bodies and a more meaningful understanding of organ systems, often generating a strong visceral reaction, unlikely to be duplicated by a video or picture'...."

Steven Farber, The Scientist

"High school students, TJU minority groups, and inner city summer science programs all made their way through our cramped, noisy, humid space to see several thousands of our research subjects. The tour would culminate with a view through the microscope at the larval beating heart. I later learned, mostly through letters from the departments sponsoring these tours, that the visit to my laboratory was often the highlight of the day. I also learned, as is often the case in a large institution, that if you do something well you usually get asked to do it again. As I became more involved, however, I realized that I could not sustain this kind of effort alone. This was, in part, my motivation for starting Project BioEYES."

Jamie Shuda (as Jamie Schaefer) and Steven A. Farber, Public Library of Science (PLoS)

"If you ask the average ten year old in America what a scientist looks like, they almost always describe an older man with crazy white hair and a lab coat. If you ask a group of adolescents how many have looked through a microscope, few raise their hands. If you discuss the implications of genetic research with a group of high school students, they're likely to cut your next class. The reason why these students have such profound stereotypes of scientists and are less than enthusiastic about science's impact on society is simple—the lack of exposure they receive during their pre-college education."