
Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science
Volunteer Attendance Form
Volunteers, please have a group member fill out this attendance form after every lesson your group teaches!
Spring 2022 Program Updates
- We are planning on teaching Nashville Metro students in the classroom again this semester! Our volunteer application will be open on 1/10/2022 and will be due on 1/31/2021.
- Rural programs are running normally.
- Our program with Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital is currently on hold. More information here.
- Our Outreach Committee is currently looking for virtual outreach opportunities for volunteers to participate in this semester.
Who Are We?
VSVS At a Glance
Our goals are to provide Vanderbilt students with an opportunity to explain science to school children, to help college students recognize their responsibilities for community service and the importance of volunteer service in schools, to provide role models for school children, to stimulate an interest in teaching as a profession, and to help kids develop a passion for science.
About Us
VSVS partners a team of 3-4 volunteers with a 5th – 8th grade classroom teacher from the Metro Nashville Public School System
Each team visits the same classroom 4 times per semester and teaches a different hands-on science lesson each week
Teachers stay in the classroom during lessons
Lessons are:
- Designed to fit each grade’s curriculum
- FUN and easy for the volunteers to teach
- Enjoyable and informative!
Lesson materials are portable (they fit into one box) and SAFE
A manual with lesson plans is provided to every volunteer
Over 100 lessons have been written by VSVS over the years. The lessons taught in classrooms change each semester and are designed in accordance with the Science Curriculum Standards as set by the Tennessee Board of Education. Details of each lesson, including manuals and videos, can be found here
Robotics lessons are also offered at selected schools
What Else Do We Do?
- Provide volunteers and lessons for after-school science enrichment events in science clubs
- Teach 10 minute lessons to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital patients in their rooms
- Teach 10-15 minute mini lessons at science “festivals” and Metro parent/student science nights
- Participate in Vanderbilt Fall service days and MLK service day
- Judge science fair projects
- Teach science lessons to Vanderbilt Next Steps students
- Write letters of support for grant applications from research faculty
- Work with the Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth
- Provide lessons and materials for other Vanderbilt student groups, including Alternative Spring and Winter Break teams, SWE, MANNA, Dance Marathon, VanderbuddiesPlayday, and Best Buddies
- Provide science kits to teachers who do not have VSVS teams
- Recruit VINSE and GAANN graduate students as a way for them to fulfill service requirements through participation in VSVS
- Train teachers from surrounding rural counties and provide VSVS/VINSE kits for their use
Partnerships
Teachers: if you are interested in participating, you can find the sign up form here
Since then, VSVS has reached over 71,000 children in 1,350 Metro Nashville school classrooms
VSVS currently reaches about 3,600 children per semester
“Most notable” user:
Science TV personality Steve Spangler used our Magic Sand kit at a teacher workshop in Colorado