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Inspiration information: a free digital resource brings students up close with leading professionals across a variety of fields to help them see the real-world relevance of their studies.

Article Excerpt
WHEN MICHELLE VILLARREAL, who teaches gifted classes at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro, TN, and at Eagleville School in Eagleville, TN, wanted to give her students some insight into how they could parlay their love of science into a career, she had them listen to an interview of Jeffrey Bluestone, director of the Diabetes Center and the Immune Tolerance Network at the University of California-San Francisco.

"When we got to the part in Bluestone's interview where he talks--almost offhandedly--about creating a genetically altered mouse, the look on the students' faces was priceless," says Villarreal. "Many of them are interested in pursuing careers in the medical field, but few had thought of research as an exciting option."

Villarreal has access to the Bluestone interview and several others like it through the Open Source Teaching Project (www.opensourceteaching.org), a Tennessee-based program that helps students make real-life connections to academic content. The program sends interviewers to speak face-to-face with experts in a range of fields who share their passion for their work, explain what they do on a daily basis, and suggest steps students can take to achieve similar careers....