Scientists as Mentors to Science Teachers
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Scientists as Mentors to Science Teachers Fiona Goodchild and Carol Johnston Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) University of California, Santa Barbara ABSTRACT This study of teacher researchers and mentor scientists at the Materials Research Laboratory at UCSB takes a socio-cultural perspective, assuming group norms in terms of language and practice associated with being a science teacher and a research scientist. The paper will report on data gathered from individual interviews with 6 science teachers and their mentor scientists, before and after the RET six week session in summer 2000. The interviews reveal some of the expectations and benefits expressed by teachers and scientists as well as some of the contrasts in the cultures of science teaching and research science. These factors need to be accommodated in RET project design. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to learn more about the experiences of science teachers and academic researchers who participate in summer teacher research programs. Evidence suggests that Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs offer a variety of benefits (Columbia, 1998), but there are few studies that investigate how the experience influences both teacher and scientist participants. Such information has the potential to be important to inform both RET program design and evaluation. This study is part of a larger research project on the impact of the RET program on the professional practice of science teachers and scientists. The RET program at MRL offers a two year experience for secondary science teachers. They spend the first summer in a research lab pursuing a project designed jointly with their mentor. As well as attending laboratory group meetings, the teachers meet weekly to report to each other on their research progress. They present a specific aspect of their research project each week, starting with the big picture, continuing through experimental methods and equipment to data collection, analysis and discussion of results. This sequence of topics helps to structure their understanding of the research process. During the academic year the teachers meet every other month while they plan a curriculum project that translates their research experience into the classroom. In a second summer, they design this new curriculum module so that they can pilot test it in their classroom. The science instructor in the UCSB teacher education program supervises this phase to monitor how the modules are consistent with current California science standards. Finally, in spring of this second academic year the RET teachers present their new curriculum to teaching colleagues at a science teaching workshop that is a jointly sponsored by the local school district. Typically, over fifty local science teachers attend this event. METHODS AND DATA COLLECTION Six teacher researchers and their scientist mentors were interviewed before and after a summer research session. Five of the six teachers (4 female, 1 male) teach science in GG2.3.1
junior high and one female teaches high scho
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