Pollen Power is an annual, weeklong summer camp that exposes middle schoolers to topics in plant biology. Students are actively recruited and sponsored so they can participate at no cost. The camp runs for 40 students each year.
Educational research indicates that middle school students are of an age (11-13 years) when many have experiences and make decisions that determine if they later pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in higher education or as a career (Jensen and McMullen 1995). This highlights the greater and greater need for interdisciplinary approaches to biological research that can solve the great societal challenges of today.
At Pollen Power, the students are led in small groups by graduate students and local teachers to learn a range of imaging and communication technologies, including the use of confocal microscopes, tours of greenhouses and local farms, and extraction of chlorophyll. This gives the campers first-hand experience in a research environment.
Read an IGB feature on the 2024 Pollen Power camp, “for middle schoolers, curiosity blooms”