Welcome to Science and Social Studies Adventures!

At SASSAk12, we create meaningful relationships between researchers and the communities they serve. Together we develop project-based, research-driven, hands-on learning for formal and informal educational spaces.

A primary driver of our work is to highlight the co-constitutive and dynamic relationship between what happens in research and what happens in society. We don't see science as something to be delivered to communities by experts. Research impacts communities and communities impact research.

We want the researchers we work with—especially graduate students and early career scholars who are at the precipice of shaping their research trajectories—to critically reflect on the potential significance and effects of their research and to share that work in ways that are relevant, engaging, and accessible to a broader public.

We highlight the fact that the research questions we ask and the ways in which we conduct and interpret our work are products of who is involved. Thus, we want to empower those who do not see themselves as researchers—especially our youth—to see themselves as knowledge builders and important, capable contributors within their communities.

This reciprocal model fosters projects in which K–12 students and teachers get access to inspiring learning opportunities built from real-world, active research while researchers and volunteers gain vital communication skills and a deeper understanding of how their work can make a difference. Furthermore, the youth in our communities are exposed to future vocational pathways they might not have known about or envisioned for themselves through connection with the current generation of real-life researchers.