Profile

Raison d’etre

PEL, working in partnership with CaRTT, has created partners in education initiatives with TVDSB, LDCSB, NCCI, IEC, Western University, LHSC and SJHC. These collaborative endeavours are designed to identify, orient, place and mentor senior academic secondary school students in experiential learning environments of the science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) health research communities. London is an excellent centre for this type of initiative because it has an abundance of rich research environments that focus on nurturing discoverers and innovators. PEL aims to support the creation and translation of knowledge in the STEMM disciplines by encouraging researchers to mentor senior secondary school youth who are motivated to pursue academic pathways in university learning environments. As students achieve success on these pathways, they are able to make informed decisions about professional careers that allow them to continue discovering, developing and applying knowledge and technology for the benefit of all Canadians.

Introduction

A large number of secondary school students in Canada have the motivation, energy, focus, and ability to become the next generation of leaders in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM). Beyond secondary school they often enter into, and many complete, undergraduate degrees in STEMM disciplines, but a frustratingly large number of talented, high ability trainees do not continue with postgraduate STEMM training and successful STEMM careers. This is unfortunate on two fronts: a) Canadian youth are not reaching their potential, and b) the Canadian STEMM research community is deprived of talent that could boost achievement in discovery, and translation of discovery to STEMM applications that enhance job creation, economic development, and intellectual accomplishment for themselves and for the large circle of Canadians with whom they interact.

We believe that an underlying cause of this situation is a scarcity of effective programs to develop STEMM skills and encourage interest in STEMM careers in our best young students at an early enough stage in their training.

There is a shortage in highly-qualified personnel in STEMM careers in Canada. In 2002, NSERC stated that approximately 100,000 additional highly qualified people will be required to place Canada, by 2010, among the top 5 countries in the world with respect to R&D spending (the stated goal of Canada's Innovation Strategy). This did not include the estimated 20,000 professors (PhDs) to replace retiring faculty, thousands of MSc and PhD holders to replace retiring government scientists and engineers, and an unknown number of replacements for private sector STEMM personnel. NSERC estimated that doubling current natural science and engineering graduation rates by 2010 would be required to meet these needs. As of 2009, the number of post-secondary degrees awarded annually in science and technology Canada rose only marginally. Alarmingly, we rank 21st among OECD countries in the fraction of such degrees among the total awarded each year. We have fallen behind and the deficit is growing.

To reduce this deficit will be a formidable task but little attention is paid to exposing selected young students with high promise of future accomplishment to the excitement of STEMM careers, nor are they being introduced to successful researchers working in the thick of STEMM disciplines at a critical time in their lives when they are deciding their future career direction – in senior level secondary school. PEL addresses this task.

Program

PEL is a “partners in education” curriculum-based project that has a successful history of creating experiential learning activities that enhance and enrich the senior academic science, technology and mathematics disciplines of Ontario’s curriculum. PEL created a foundation for the partnership in the academic science cooperative education programs of the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) and the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) and then partnered with researchers of Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Training Program in Cancer Research and Technology Transfer (CIHR STP CaRTT). In the years that the program has been in place, it has evolved to offer much more than cooperative education placements in cancer research laboratories of the CaRTT mentors.

Today PEL provides:

  • An invitation to PEL co-op students to attend the Translational Seminar Series which is offered by the CIHR STP CaRTT in conjunction with the Pamela Greenaway Kohlmeier Translational Breast Cancer Research Unit; a promotional seminar for teachers and students interested in the PEL program.
  • Participation in The Annual CaRTT and Department of Oncology Research and Education Day; participation in the annual Secondary School Gairdner Event hosted by the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University.
  • Matching funds for PEL co-op alumni who have successfully competed for summer employment in the CaRTT laboratory where they earned their co-op credits.
  • Classroom connections for researchers who offer to enrich the secondary school curriculum in collaboration with a teacher; input into the Provincial Partnership Council which is responsible for ensuring that every employer in Ontario sees the value of engaging high school students in meaningful work experiences supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
  • Cooperative education placements for selected, senior science students from TVDSB and LDCSB who are motivated to work and learn in the experiential learning environments of the PEL mentors who work in London’s health research community.