Three science teachers from Kirkland are this summer joining about 30 science teachers from Washington – plus two from Singapore and one from Australia – in spending part of their vacation at “summer school,” working beside scientists in research laboratories at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and several other partner sites throughout Seattle. The summer workshop, which runs July 14-30, will host teachers from nearly 20 communities throughout the state and abroad.
“Our goal is for teachers to bring back what they learn over the summer to help jump-start their students’ knowledge of bioscience and research and perhaps kindle their interest in jobs or careers in science,” said Nancy Hutchison, director of the Hutchinson Center’s Science Education Partnership (or SEP) program, now in its 18th year.
The Kirkland teachers are Melissa Kjosness, Sam Royce and Sharon Winter, all of Lake Washington High School.
Working in labs at the Hutchinson Center and partnering local academic-research institutions and biotechnology firms, this year’s cadre of teachers will update and hone their lab techniques and teaching strategies in life sciences, particularly genetics and molecular biology.
“Teaching science is like teaching a foreign language,” Hutchison said. “By participating in the Science Education Partnership, teachers explore the whole country; they get immersed. After the two weeks are up, they have begun to think like the ‘locals’ and see how the research culture really works,” she said. “As a result, their students gain a better understanding of what science really is and how it influences their daily lives.”
After a jumpstart session to learn laboratory basics, the teachers will spend about half their time working one-on-one with a scientist-mentor in a research laboratory on projects tailored to their interests. Lab work over the past several years has focused on such topics as protein structure, DNA sequencing, oncogenes, yeast genetics and fruit-fly development. This mentorship often leads to lasting partnerships that extend beyond the summer session to include classroom visits by scientists during the school year.
The other half of the educators’ time will be spent in the Teaching Laboratory at the Hutchinson Center, where they will work as a group with Lead Teachers – master teachers experienced with the SEP workshops – focusing on effective ways to use scientific techniques in the classroom and refining curricula for the coming school year.
“Another benefit of the Science Education Partnership, perhaps less tangible, but equally important, is the connection teachers make with scientists and their teaching colleagues,” Hutchison said. “It is a real learning community.”
Perhaps most importantly, the program encourages teachers – many of whom haven’t been in a laboratory since college – to sharpen their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In short: to teach outside the box. Since the Science Education Partnership began in 1991, 368 teachers have participated and the program has touched the lives of more than 150,000 students.
