Zebrafish navigate their way through a maze at Hamilton High School in Milwaukee. Meanwhile at Seymour Community High School, just west of Green Bay, others are exposed to pollutants. Even more can be found in high schools in Pardeeville, Waukesha and Racine.
The fish started their journey at UW-Milwaukee, making their way to 31 high schools across the state this academic year. Their mission: provide high school science students with an authentic research environment to examine the effects of environmental agents like nicotine and ethanol on animal development and health. The creator of that mission: UWM Distinguished Professor of Chemistry David Petering. Petering’s goal is to help high school students hit the ground running in college – and have them head straight to research labs.
Petering started the precollege education program 20 years ago at UWM. It evolved into the WI Inquiry-based Scientist-Teacher Education Partnership, or WInSTEP. Over the past two decades, Petering has received $3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Science Education Partnership Award Program.
