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District to offer Tiny Earth research course in partnership with UW‑Green Bay and West High
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Summary
Green Bay Area School District and UW‑Green Bay will formalize a Tiny Earth research program into a high‑school course at West High, offering rising juniors an authentic 14‑week research capstone with campus prep and community presentations; initial cohorts will be limited to about 24 students per lab to preserve independent research experiences.
The Green Bay Area School District will offer a Tiny Earth research‑based capstone course in partnership with the University of Wisconsin‑Green Bay and West High School, presenters told the board on Sept. 8. The program gives high‑school students hands‑on laboratory research experience tackling real‑world scientific questions about antimicrobial resistance and will include a campus preparation period and a 14‑week research sequence.
Why it matters: Presenters said authentic research experiences increase readiness for STEM college majors and careers. Dr. Brian Merkel, a UW‑Green Bay faculty member, told the board that nationally about 60% of students who initially choose STEM majors switch majors before graduation and often cite inadequate high‑school preparation. The Tiny Earth model aims to address that gap by placing students in real lab work and public presentation roles.
Program design and scale: The course model discussed at the meeting includes approximately two weeks of campus prep at UW‑Green Bay, followed by 14 weeks of supervised laboratory research during the school year. Presenters said cohorts should remain small — they discussed an initial target cohort of about 24 students per lab — so each student can conduct independent experiments and produce an original project. Students are typically rising juniors for this offering; students who complete the sequence may be eligible to serve as teaching assistants or pursue youth‑apprenticeship internships in their senior year.
Community and curricular ties: The program will culminate in public presentations. Presenters noted a student symposium hosted at Lambeau Field where students present research findings; they cited an estimated annual cost of about $28,000 for that public symposium event. Dual‑credit pathways at UW‑Green Bay and internship opportunities with local business and industry partners were presented as follow‑up options for students who complete the capstone.
Equity and expansion: Speakers said Tiny Earth historically ran at well‑resourced private or university sites; the district‑UW partnership is intended to remove access barriers so Green Bay students from varied backgrounds can participate. Presenters noted that students who have completed the pilot have been competitive at college research symposia and have used the experience to secure laboratory jobs or internships.
Board questions and next steps: Board members asked about grade levels, cohort size and how the experience will fit into a student’s junior and senior‑year plans. Presenters said the district will start incrementally, keep cohorts small to preserve the independent research experience, offer TA roles for successful students and pursue dual‑credit and internship connections. The district will return with course‑book language and implementation details for course scheduling and enrollment.
Speakers quoted in this article are those named in the meeting record and attributed by name and role in the text.
