AWIS Bethesda Chapter Opportunities for Scientists in K12 Science Education as a Career or as a Volu

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AWIS Bethesda ChapterOpportunities for
Scientistsin K-12 Science Educationas a Career
or as a Volunteer

• Toby Horn, Ph.D. Co-Director, Carnegie Academy
  for Science Education (CASE), Carnegie
  Institution of Washington (CIW)

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Topics

• Volunteering
• Careers
• Connecting with schools
• Getting employed

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Volunteer

• Career Speaker
• Science Fair Judge
• Tutor
• Lab aide

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Scientist v TeacherExpectations of your Audience

• Buy-in is assumed
• Nappers dont matter
• People leave to check on their experiment

• Why do we have to know this?
• Why should I be interested?
• Students have to stay in the classroom

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Visit a School

• Check out the NIH Office of Science Education
  Speakers Bureau
• What is the community service policy in your
  lab/division?
• Visit a school in your neighborhood
• Tutor in early AM or after school
• Volunteer to mentor a student for science fair
  (not in your lab, but by phone, e-mail school
  visit)

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Visit a School

• Make yourself known
• Provide information teachers want for their
  students
• Negotiate topic to reinforce what is being taught
• Be MUCH more informal than for NIH seminar

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Engaging your Audience

• Keep talk time short--involve the audience
• Help students develop into questioners by
  thinking out loud
• Show students how to do things and then---LET
  them do things
• Get students/teachers to teach YOU!

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Engaging your Audience

• Bring items you actually use to pass around for
  students to handle.
• Ask students what THEY like about science. (Most
  will say they like nothing but thats because
  they are kids.)
• Even if they are not looking, students ARE
  listening.

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Connect your work with basic science concept(s)

• Discuss with the teacher beforehand
• Fit your visit to introduce or reinforce the
  program of studies
• Refer to the Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science
  Literacy
• (http//www.project2061.org)

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Talking to Students

• What is your day like?
• How much do you earn?
• What basic science concepts does your work
  address?
• What is your experimental design?
• What does your data look like?
• What did you like in high school?
• Describe a bad goof in the lab and how you solved
  the problem.

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What is your day like?

• Family
• Institutions where you work
• Colleagues
• Travel to meetings
• Fun
• Describe a bad goof in the lab and how you solved
  the problem.

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How much do you earn?

• You dont have to answer this specifically.
• You may earn less than a teacher, but you have
  some particular perks.
• Salary scales for practically every school
  district are higher for folks with PhD.

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How do you design your experiment?

• Controls/standards/observations
• Approach
• Hypothesis-IF there is one
• What do you use to collect the data?
• How many /what kinds of trials/replicates do you
  use
• How does what you are doing relate to
  teens/kids/adults/real life?

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What does your data look like?

• YES, you do math in science.
• Data representation is attempted different ways
• Tables and charts
• Photos and gels
• Statistics
• Using math (every day)

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What did you like in school?

• Sports?
• Friends?
• Love-life?
• After-school job?
• Science Math COURSES (maybe yes,
  maybe no???)
• Let students know you were a nerd if you were.
  Many students are afraid to admit they are nerds
  also.

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Had a bad goof? How did you solve the problem?

• Recognizing bad data
• Checking materials
• Asking for advice from colleagues
• Being upset (feeling stupid?)
• Being persistent
• Resolving the problem
• Things often go (wrong) in ways we dont expect.

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Volunteer

• Career Speaker
• Science Fair Judge
• Tutor
• Lab aide

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Science Fair Judge

• Students are NERVOUS!
• Listen to the prepared speech.
• Ask How did you get interested in the project?
• Ask What was the most unusual thing you found?
• Then, if the student didnt use
  control/standard/replicates, etc., gently ask.

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Local Regional Science Fairs

• Montgomery County. March 10-12. Judging Saturday
  March 12. Montgomery County Fairgrounds. Visit
  Sunday early afternoon.
• http//www.sciencemontgomery.org/
• DCPS March 17-19. Judging Saturday March 18.
  McKinley Technology High School. Visit Sunday
  early afternoon.
• http//www.dcscifair.com
• Fairfax County March 17-19. Judging Saturday
  March 18. Robinson Secondary School. Visit Sunday
  early afternoon.
• http//www.fcps.edu/DIS/sciengfair/index.htm
• Prince Georges County
• http//www.pgcps.pg.k12.md.us/science.html

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Volunteer

• Tutor/Mentor
• http//www.Mentorsinc.org

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Volunteer

• Lab aide
• Bring supplies
• Help set up
• Help students
• Help clean up

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Interested in Teaching / Supporting School
Science?
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DATA about Teaching

• Requirements by State
• http//www.paec.org/teacher2teacher/map.html
• Teacher Quality Preparation and Qualifications
  of Public School Teachers
• http//nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/19990
  80/
• Teacher Preparation Professional Development
• http//nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/20010
  88/

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Careers

• Outreach
• Independent/Private School
• Charter School
• Public School

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Outreach Avenues

• NIH-OSE Institutes
• Universities Museums
• Companies

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Career

• Independent/ Private School
• http//www.nais.org/

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Career

• Charter School
• (primarily in DCPS)
• http//www.dcpubliccharter.com/
  communityint/schools/schools.htm

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Career

• Outreach
• Independent/Private School
• Charter School
• Public School

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K-12 EDUjargon

• Data Club/Seminar
• Can your tech/post-doc repeat your work?
• Set up the experiment
• Collect the data
• Analyze the data
• Proposal and poster deadlines

• Share
• Differentiated Instruction
• Efficacy/Agency
• Planning period
• Daily assessment
• Grading period

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Resources for YOU

• NAS Publications http//www.nap.edu
• NSF GK-12 http//www.nsf.gov
• NSF RET
• DOD-SEAP, APS
• NIH FAES
• NIH-OSE Speakers Bureau
• GWU/AU/GMU/Howard Transition to Teaching Programs
• Mentors Inc. http//www.mentorsinc.org

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Getting Employed

• Get known at a school
• Requirements
• Resume
• Interview
• Training Fellowships

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Requirements

• Resume
• Transcripts
• (if from another country, equivalents)
• (Green Card)
• Praxis exam (http//www.ets.org/)
• Be Patient Persistent

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Prepare your Resume (CV)

• Emphasize your major subjects (generally
  certification is based on your college or
  graduate thesis subject)
• Put your research/thesis topic in terms of the
  basic science studied, then the actual title
• Note especially any volunteering with the public
  or in schools
• Dont list your publications---just indicate that
  you have publications in scientific journals
• Please DO NOT use the NIH cv format

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Getting Employed

• Send the principal a short cover letter with your
  resume (CV)
• Call and ask for a meeting
• Bring your resume and other documents with you to
  the meeting
• Be prepared to describe your work with NO jargon
• Consult the AAAS Project 2061 Benchmarks for
  Science Literacy and Atlas of Science Literacy
• http//www.project2061.org

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DC Public Schools

• http//www.dcteachingfellows
• .org/
• http//www.dcteachingfellows
• .org/application.html

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Fairfax County, VA

• http//www.fcps.k12.va.us/DHR/
• applicants/infoforie.htm

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Montgomery County, MD

• http//www.mcps.k12.md.us/
• departments/personnel/
• employment/teacherprep/

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Transition to Teaching (T3)http//www.ed.gov/poli
cy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg28.html

• to establish a program to recruit and retain
  highly qualified mid-career professionals
  (including highly qualified paraprofessionals),
  and recent graduates of an institution of higher
  education, as teachers in high-need schools,
  including recruiting teachers through alternative
  routes to certification and
• to encourage the development and expansion of
  alternative routes to certification under
  State-approved programs that enable individuals
  to be eligible for teacher certification within a
  reduced period of time, relying on the
  experience, expertise, and academic
  qualifications of an individual, or other factors
  in lieu of traditional course work in the field
  of education.

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Transition to Teaching (T3)

• DC Fellows program
• http//www.dcteachingfellows.org/
• Howard University
• http//www.transitiontoteaching.org/program.htm
• GWU
• http//gsehd.gwu.edu/gsehd/viewarticle348
• Dept of Education overview
• http//www.ed.gov/programs/transitionteach/
• index.html

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Realities of Communicating w/Schools

• Identify the school, call and find out the name
  of the principal (may not be current on a web
  site). Also get the school Fax number and the
  name of a science teacher.
• Call the principal EARLY or LATE in the day. Do
  NOT expect the principal to call back. They are
  terribly overextended.
• Snailmail and Fax and call to leave a message.
• (Schools in the NIH area tend to be more
  responsive)

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Curious? Ask Yourself

• Do you like kids?
• Do you have a sense of humor?
• Are you patient but firm?
• Could you model self-discipline?
• Can you describe your work in lt25 words?
• (sans jargon)

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You Can Swim this Channel!
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Teach!Change Lives!Invest in the Future!YOU
CAN make a difference!
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Dr Toby Hornthorn_at_ciw.edu(Google ltToby Horn
teachinggt)