School-based Volunteer Teams. In support of the
teachers and the entire reform effort, the Merck
Institute recruited teams of Merck employees to serve as
resources for teachers within each building. The teams
have as few as two volunteers and as many as ten. The
Merck Institute coordinates these efforts and provides
technical support.
Make-up of Volunteer Teams. Teams are composed
of Merck scientists and employees at all levels within
company. retirees are also active team members,
particularly at one Merck site. The Merck Institute
encourages all employees to participate, and to make a
contribution commensurate with their interests,
abilities, and time available. [For another example, in
which the focus is solely on retirees, see Project
RE-SEED {>Example, Project RE-SEED}]
Roles of Volunteers. Volunteers directly
support teachers and students in a variety of ways. They:
- Act as a support person to help teachers solve
practical problems.
- Act as an adviser or a mentor to teachers about
science content.
- Act as a resource to teachers to help plan and
deliver lessons.
- Work with teachers to plan presentations by other
scientists.
- Act as role models for students in the classroom.
- Help provide access to additional resources,
e.g., hep determine what to purchase (or locate)
and where to find it.
Merck volunteers also play roles less directly
related to the classrooms. They:
- Garner community support for evening and weekend
science activities and science fairs.
- Serve on curriculum review committees, where they
can give credibility to the process of moving
from textbooks to kit-based modules.
- Exert policy leadership by running for and
serving on school boards.
- Conducting plant tours.
- Judging science fairs.
- Construct classroom demonstration equipment.
- Coach Science Olympiad teams.
Recruiting Volunteers. The Merck Institute
recruits employee volunteers in a variety of ways.
Recruiting sessions are held in the company cafeteria and
in the lobbies of research buildings once or twice a
year. Merck Institute staff members provide information
about the programs and answer questions. Regular
solicitations are made in internal company newsletters
and on the company's Intranet site. Recruiting is also
done at annual company-wide events that draw large
numbers of employees. Occasionally, the portable
planetarium Starlab is set up in the cafeteria, and
employees are given a short astronomy presentation, to
communicate firsthand the excitement of science teaching
and the power of new teaching tools.
Training Volunteers. The Merck Institute has
found that a minimum amount of training is required for
volunteers to be effective. For new volunteers the
Institute provides three sessions
Volunteering 101 presents the roles and
opportunities for volunteers, the Merck Institute
program, and the broad issues of reform and equity. A
brief introduction to The Resource Center is also
included.
Volunteering 201 focuses on preparing
volunteers for mentoring teachers and classroom
visits. This session deals with developmentally and
age appropriate curriculum and materials,
specifically resources that are available in the two
Resource Centers (including the STC, FOSS, and
Insights modules).
Volunteering 301 focuses on
inquiry-centered lesson planning, teaching, and
assessment of student learning. The integration of
math and computer technology into science lessons is
also demonstrated.
Other Activities. As an initial step in
expanding the reform efforts of the Partnership, the
Merck Institute is supporting the work of employee
volunteers at other Merck sites. Merck employee
volunteers are active in many states throughout the
United States. In addition to school-based activities,
volunteers promote interest in science education by
offering programs to employees and their families at
Merck sites. Among them are Family Science programs,
STARLAB Saturdays, Science-by-Mail programs, science
fairs, summer camps, site tours, and career days.
The Merck Institute also supports
- precollege science education in Puerto Rico
through a Fairleigh Fairleigh Dickinson
University program
- the Douglass Science Institute for young women at
Rutgers University
- the ChIME program for minority students at the
New Jersey Institute of Technology
- Merck State Science Day
- MathCounts programs
- Raritan Valley Community College
- several science fairs, including the Delaware
Valley Science Fair.
Organization and Assessment of Volunteers.
Volunteer Coordination Boards have been established at
Merck sites in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These boards
set local volunteer policy, provide direction, and
coordinate the activities of the volunteer corps. After
each volunteer activity or classroom visit, the
volunteers complete and file an activity report. CPRE has
developed a questionnaire to be used to track and assess
the volunteer effort.
Time Spent. For Merck volunteers, the time
spent is variable. Some volunteers are able to commit to
a weekly or monthly classroom visit; others can
participate only once a year, for example, as a science
fair judge.
Recognition. As of 1997, Merck & Co., Inc.
has no formal policy under which it recognizes the
contributions of employee volunteers. Volunteers
participate with the approval of their managers or in
their free time. The Company supports and funds the
program of The Merck Institute, as the Institute
regularly acknowledges employee efforts.
