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At the Florida Atlantic Laboratory Schools, high school students are not just reading science textbooks — they are writing the research that goes into them.
Dr. Joel Herbst, Superintendent and Vice President of the Florida Atlantic Laboratory Schools, joined Inside South Florida to discuss the opening of a brand-new facility, the launch of a groundbreaking teacher training center, and how the school's 17-year-old students are getting published in some of the world's most prestigious medical journals.
A new launch pad for learning
The Florida Atlantic Laboratory Schools recently completed a massive upgrade, replacing a facility originally built in 1964 with a state-of-the-art campus.
"We built a brand new lab school. Took about nine years to raise the funds. We were fortunate to get legislative support for this, as well as private support. We brought everything up to date. And this is our launch pad for our programs," Herbst said.
Training teachers to make learning 'sticky'
While the new facility serves students, it is also designed to support educators across the state. With startup funds from the Florida legislature, the school created the Center for Education Strategy and Innovation.
The center, which operates mostly on Saturdays, provides professional development focused entirely on applied learning — what Herbst calls "hands-on, minds-on" education.
"The teacher leaves with a kit, and that kit has the development material that they used in the workshop to deploy in their classroom," Herbst said.
The impact has been significant. The center has already trained nearly 2,400 teachers, impacting thousands of students.
"What we found is when you teach applied learning — and there is a model for that, which is our lab school — learning becomes sticky. The students get that innovation, the place to apply it, and not only learn from it, but also retain it for long periods of time," he said.
High school students publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine
Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the Florida Atlantic Laboratory Schools is the level of research being produced by its high school students.
"We have over 130 peer-reviewed published research studies done by our high school students. They have been cited over 2,000 times throughout 74 different countries," Herbst said.
The students are guided by the school's instructors and supported by the resources of Florida Atlantic University, where the lab school is embedded. The results speak for themselves.
"What they've done is land in some significant journals, like the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. And some people would say, a 17-year-old published in the New England Journal of Medicine? We would say, yes, it's possible. Given the right support and the right direction, our students are capable of achieving just about everything," Herbst said.
For more information on the Florida Atlantic Laboratory Schools and the Center for Education Strategy and Innovation, visit fau.edu/education.
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