Education and Outreach  

Pilot Project and Workshop, Spring 2001

What the participants thought about the workshop:

"When I saw the announcement of this research class …. with some apprehension I took the first step and contacted Martin Jeffries. Primary teachers are not always welcomed in scientific circles, so this was my way of saying ‘I am not very scientific. Please don’t expect too much from me. Are you sure you want a second-grade teacher in this class?’ I was welcomed to the class. He was very excited about having a second-grade teacher join up. The course gave me everything I had hoped for. It sparked my courage, enabled me to meet a long-term goal, and you can’t imagine how the wonderful congratulations of my co-workers has boosted my self esteem. This course offered me a bonus. I was able to improve my personal life, as well as my professional life. That makes this experience very valuable to me. Feelings like these are what create teacher renewal."

"This class was very enjoyable. I appreciated the degree to which the class addressed the wide range of readiness levels of the students. I believe this can be brought out even more, and can be a strong asset of the course for helping ‘non-science’ teachers appreciate science more. I was drawn to the class to learn more about snow and ice, which is readily and plentifully available to my classes to study. I learned quite a bit, both for my own edification and for ideas for activities to do with my students. The class met my expectations in this area."

"Another commendable aspect of the snow and ice class was the appropriate balance between classroom presentation and the actual hands on research. Collaboration was an important dynamic in this research experience too. The group work, the opportunities to ask questions as we went, and the willingness of participants to share knowledge built camaraderie. The snow and ice class did effectively fulfill its purpose. In a sense, the teachers involved walked for a while in a scientist’s shoes. They gathered data first-hand, wrestled with unfamiliar math, analyzed results, and together searched for sensible explanations to the patterns observed. As a result, they each gained some new personal knowledge, concepts or inquiry activities for possible classroom adaptation, and a valid research experience worthy of evaluation."

"It was especially valuable to be learning from a scientist with such a great depth of knowledge in the field …. I appreciated having an instructor who clearly enjoyed teaching us, was able to communicate well with us, encouraged us to ask questions, and was open to our suggestions. I definitely found it valuable to work through the entire process of data collection and analysis, to really understand what those data mean. Discussions of mathematical modeling­both the use of models by scientists and the importance of students (and the general public) understanding of the power and limitations of models­gave me a new perspective. I found it valuable to talk with Ron Reihl, since he teaches at the 8th grade level and I teach at the high school level. There are not usually very many opportunities for that sort of dialogue between science teachers of different grade levels."