Small World Initiative® Instructor Training

The Small World Initiative® (SWI) is an innovative program that inspires and retains students in the sciences while addressing one of the most pressing global health challenges of our century – the diminishing supply of effective antibiotics. SWI centers around an introductory biology course in which students perform hands-on field and laboratory research on soil samples in the hunt for new antibiotics. Over just five years, SWI has grown rapidly to include nearly 300 participating undergraduate institutions and high schools in 41 states and 14 countries. In studies, our course has been shown to improve grades and increase confidence and performance, especially among women and minorities, and follows evidence-based recommendations from National Science Foundation (NAS), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Students have the opportunity to win scientific awards and present their original research at our Annual Symposium.

The goal of the Small World Initiative's training workshops is to increase science instructors’ skills and knowledge necessary for them to transform traditional microbiology education at their home institutions and replace it with our discovery-based course. To ensure that students benefit the most from our program, we vet prospective instructors through an application process and then train new instructors in our innovative, discovery-based model and active learning techniques during a five-day in-person workshop. The workshop involves an intensive week of hands-on and engaging instruction on wet lab techniques and parallel curricula and pedagogical instruction to ensure that instructors are effectively trained to use and have access to relevant curricula that deploys the equipment in labs and activities that support scientific learning goals. Instructors learn how to support students in designing their own original experiments, collecting soil samples, isolating and characterizing bacteria, testing their samples for antibiotic activity, performing chemical extractions, and analyzing individual and group data. Instructors leave the training having practiced the skills and techniques that they will in turn teach their students so they are ready and able to immediately implement the program at their schools. New instructors are carefully paired with a mentor who has already successfully taught the course at a nearby or similar type of institution. These mentors are able to quickly answer questions. The instructors also have access to our lead experts should more challenging issues arise as well as our broad instructor community who enjoy engaging and collaborating with one another primarily through our Facebook groups, Committee participation, and at conferences. Each training impacts faculty at 30 schools and thousands of students.

Title Sponsor – $20,000

  • Sponsor’s name included in the SWI Instructor Training Title
  • Press release issued highlighting the sponsor
  • Sponsor's logo/name prominently displayed
  • Full-page feature/advertisement in the front of the SWI Training Manual
  • Keynote talk featured in online and print information
  • All benefits below

Platinum Sponsor – $10,000

  • Sponsor’s logo/name printed on front of the SWI Instructor Training Manual and bag
  • Sponsor’s logo/name on three SWI newsletters sent out to all SWI Training meeting registrants and in SWI emails sent during the training
  • Dedicated e-blast to SWI community highlighting high-level sponsors
  • Recognition during SWI Training opening/closing remarks
  • Sponsor’s logo/name on PowerPoint landing page
  • Half-page feature/advertisement in the SWI Training Manual
  • All other benefits below

Diamond Sponsor – $5,000

  • Sponsor’s logo on the SWI Training T-shirt and SWI Training Manual back
  • 500-character feature/advertisement in the SWI Training Manual
  • Sponsor’s logo/name on all promotional materials, including e-blasts
  • Sponsor’s logo/name on signage at the Training
  • All other benefits below

Gold Sponsor – $2,500

  • Sponsor’s logo/name inside front cover of the SWI Training Manual
  • 200-character feature/advertisement in the SWI Training Manual
  • Promotional materials inserted in the training bag
  • All other benefits below

Silver Sponsor – $1,000

  • Sponsor's logo/name and information on website and in one e-blast
  • All other benefits below

Friend Sponsor – $500

  • Sponsor's logo/name inside the SWI Training Manual

Payments

Please submit payment to be listed in the SWI Training Manual no later than May 1, 2019.

Payments can be made via a check paid to "Small World Initiative, Inc." and mailed to our headquarters: Attn: Erika Kurt, Small World Initiative, 301 W 57th St, #45D, New York, NY 10019.

Credit card payment is also accepted online through the Sponsor link below or by calling 347-762-4818.

SPONSOR

EIN / Tax ID: 81-1772308

*The Small World Initiative is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity and has been organized exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. Donations to the Small World Initiative are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Employer Identification Number / Tax ID: 81-1772308. Registered Name: Small World Initiative, Inc.