In early April, high school students across Ontario went online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This transition has created a unique challenge for grade 12 students who are in their final semester before heading to college and university, and their teachers are concerned whether they are covering the most important concepts that will ensure their students’ success.

In response, professors from the Faculty of Science have been hosting a week-long series of virtual information sessions with local and regional high school science and math teachers called A Preview of Tomorrow. The sessions are designed to inform teachers about first-year undergraduate classes in math, chemistry, biology and physics, in an effort to ease the transition of current grade 12 students into university this fall.

Dora Cavallo-Medved, a professor in Biomedical Sciences who organized the week-long event as part of the USci Network in the Faculty of Science, calls it an important opportunity to connect with grade 12 science and math teachers.

“We’re having conversations about how we can work together to best support students,” says Dr. Cavallo-Medved. “We’re also offering resources as they continue remote learning with their students. It’s essential that we are pro-active and collaborative, with a common goal of ensuring success for our students.”

Participating teachers from across the Windsor-Essex region — and as far away as Sarnia — appreciated the opportunity to build a stronger connection between high schools and the University of Windsor.

One teacher who participated in the biology session was thankful for the informative presentation, saying: “it’s so helpful to have this type of dialogue between high schools and universities. I appreciated the overview of topics of study in first year, as well knowing the topics that are typically a struggle will help guide our teaching of those units.”

Teachers who were unable to attend the webinars can contact Cavallo-Medved at dcavallo@uwindsor.ca to receive a copy of the presentations.