Over the three months of the northern summer, the University of Alabama (UA) has piloted a program designed to offer professional development to school science teachers, and to stimulate students' interest in science. The pilot is a way to provide learning resources for schools in one of the USA's poorest states, and for UA staff it is also a step towards their long-term goal of developing close, ongoing links with schools. Through VISTA four staff in the university's science, technology and mathematics faculty are working with three teachers at an area high school and three graduate students, to develop science experiments that can ultimately be implemented in high schools across the state.