Prison biology education
The Prison Biology Education Program brings introductory biology classes to incarcerated individuals inside an Arizona State prison. This unique course allows graduate students and select undergraduate students to cultivate their teaching skills and share their love of biology with an underserved adult community.
Benefits to the incarcerated student:
The program is in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Correction, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) and supplements remedial education and GED offerings with a college course. We aim to foster scientific interest, improve math and literacy competencies, hone critical thinking skills, and apply science content more broadly outside of the classroom. Our main goal is to provide a positive educational experience that allows the students to curate their own learning, recognize their intrinsic worth and potential and motivate them to further their college education. Incarcerated students tell us about the impact of taking the course on themselves and their family members.
Benefits to society:
We believe education is a human right that should not be denied to anyone. Educational opportunities for the incarcerated carry societal dividends including, increasing chances for gainful employment upon release, reducing recidivism and positively influencing the welfare of the incarcerated that help in reducing prison violence.
Benefits to the volunteer teachers:
From curriculum planning to completing teaching rotations, diverse and rewarding experiences are available to ASU students who participate in this program.
About the course
Created through collaborations between life sciences faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and ADCRR, we teach an introductory course which is equivalent to BIO100 in objectives and scope. The two-part course is taught through both fall and spring semesters. The fall semester half, “From Atoms to Cells,” covers molecular and cellular biology. The spring semester section, “From Organisms to Biosphere,” covers physiology, genetics, evolution, and ecology.
The course is rigorous, with in-class activities and experiments, weekly homework assignments, and exams. In addition, students explore individual literature-based research with the help of the ASU teacher volunteers, culminating in short oral presentations to other students and teachers. Volunteer teachers undergo background checks and online training prior to obtaining volunteer badges that allows them to teach in prison.
We currently teach at Eyman State Prison in Florence, AZ, located southeast of the Phoenix metropolitan area amidst a lush Sonoran Desert landscape. We carpool to Florence and are greeted by ADCRR educational and security personnel.
BIO 584 specifics
Prison biology education is an internship course designed for graduate students (and select undergraduate students) who are socially motivated to transform the community around them. This program exemplifies many of ASU’s New American University tenets like inclusivity, social embeddedness, and connecting to the community at large through mutually beneficial partnerships.
The course provides ASU students with an opportunity to engage in an interdisciplinary pedagogical project while gaining experience in curriculum design and teaching. While we hope that most of the participants in the program will teach in person, others help in many outside of classroom tasks, like planning, building assessments, recording short video presentations etc. Participation at any level is welcomed and appreciated. You can sign up for up to 3 credits depending on your involvement in the program. Participation in the program is not contingent on enrolling in the course, but enrolling is highly encouraged.
I joined the Prison Biology Program because I wanted to help a group of people who we, as a society, do not want to remember or acknowledge. My students are eager to learn and improve themselves, and have shown me that even someone who has hit rock bottom can start over again.
Grace Gao
ASU student
The biology class has made a world of difference to these inmates, who are not normally in a classroom. The inmates are on good behavior, they talk outside the classroom about what they have learned and the class is contributing to their sense of well-being.
Patricia L. Weaver, Ed.D.
ASPC-E Education, Correctional Education Program Supervisor
