SciTrek Secondary Sign-Up Information

Thank you for your interest in bringing SciTrek Secondary to your classroom! We are currently booking for the 2025-2026 academic year. Please fill out this google form to submit a request for a module, and a SciTrek staff member will be in touch to confirm your booking. 

SciTrek brings immersive, interactive, NGSS-aligned 5-day science experiences—SciTrek Modules—to middle school (and soon, high school) classrooms in Santa Barbara and Goleta. SciTrek is free to participants, and stipends are provided for participating teachers. Our programs are designed and overseen by PhD staff and faculty and facilitated by a diverse, trained cohort of UCSB undergraduate students.

A SciTrek Module takes students on a journey of discovery, guiding them in small groups through scientific phenomena via observations, experimental trials, and data analysis. Students conclude the experience by sharing their findings through a structured reporting project that emphasizes critical thinking and problem-solving. We currently offer middle-school-aligned programs on topics including wave physics, cell respiration, germ growth and inhibition, and conservation of mass in chemical reactions.

Teacher Collaboration & Commitment

Teachers play a key role in SciTrek Modules, serving as expert leads while undergraduate mentors facilitate small-group learning. Each group of 3-6 students takes ownership of their investigation, while undergraduate mentors inspire engagement by modeling scientific curiosity, commitment to learning, and the pathway to higher education at a leading research university.

SciTrek provides:
✔ Training, support, and a stipend for participating teachers.
✔ In-class mentorship from UCSB undergraduates.
✔ Fully NGSS-aligned, hands-on science programming.

Teacher commitments include:

  • Attending brief preparatory meetings (~30 minutes, held over zoom) and engaging in pre-Module communication to ensure smooth execution.
  • Participating in a ~1 hour teacher orientation given by a SciTrek staff member at your school to review module content and activities.
  • Teaching and overseeing Module-specific activities on Days 1, 3, and 5 (when undergraduate mentors are not present).
  • Providing active classroom leadership and management on Days 2 and 4, when SciTrek mentors are in the classroom.
  • Assisting with data collection on student attitudes and learning to help improve our programming.

Contact Us

For questions or more information about booking for the 2025-26 academic year, please contact the SciTrek Secondary Program Manager at chem-scitrekmanager@ucsb.edu.

If you are interested in SciTrek's Elementary Program (grades 2-6), please email scitrekelementary@chem.ucsb.edu for more details and signups.

We look forward to working with you!