National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Appendix B: Convocation Participants
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 93
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 94
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 95
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 96
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 97
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 98
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 99
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 100
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 101
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 102
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 103
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators." National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. 2009. Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12739.
×
Page 104

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Appendix C Biographical Sketches of Presenters and Facilitators Bruce Alberts, a biochemist with a strong commitment to the improve- ment of science education, began service as editor-in-chief of Science in March 2008. Alberts was also a long-time professor in the Depart- ment of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San F ­ rancisco, and served two 6-year terms as the president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Alberts is one of the original authors of The Molecular Biology of the Cell, a textbook now in its fifth edition. For the period 2000 to 2009, he served as cochair of the InterAcademy Council, an organization in Amsterdam governed by the presidents of 15 national academies of sciences and established to provide scientific advice to the world. Widely recognized for his work in the fields of biochemistry and molecular ­biology, Alberts has earned many honors and awards, includ- ing 15 honorary degrees. He currently serves on the advisory boards of more than 25 nonprofit institutions, including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Maureen Allen is recently retired from the Department of Education in Orange County, California, as a program specialist for K-12 science educa- tion. During her 8 years at the county office, she worked with the 28 school districts in Orange County conducting science staff development, writing science curriculum, and helping to coordinate several different grants, as a partner with school districts, universities, businesses, and professional organizations. She has also worked with the ­Beckman@­Science Program as a teacher leader, kit trainer, and coordinator for Irvine Unified School 93

94 NURTURING AND SUSTAINING EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS District and represented the Orange County Department of Education. Previously she was a K-6 science resource specialist and middle school teacher for Irvine Unified School District for 22 years. She also devel- oped its curriculum and coordinated its after-school science program and helped to coordinate the Astounding Inventor’s Competition. She was twice selected as Irvine’s Teacher of the Year and was a semifinalist for the California State Science Teacher of the Year. Statewide, Allen worked on two projects of the Curriculum and Instruction Steering Committee: the Strategic Science Teaching Workbook and a statewide science staff devel- opment program, “It’s All About the Electron.” She was the consulting author for the Scott Foresman, Science Series, K-6, Discover the Wonder and has coauthored five AIMS Education Foundation books. Dennis Bartels is executive director of the Exploratorium—San ­Francisco’s museum of science, art, and human perception. He studies curriculum reform, teacher professional development, technology in education, learn- ing theory, and organizational change. Previously he was president of TERC, an education research and development center based in ­Cambridge, MA. Prior to 2001, Bartels directed the Center for Teaching and Learning at the Exploratorium. He was project director of the South Carolina Statewide Systemic Initiative and directed the development of the state curriculum frameworks there. He has served on several committees, advisory boards, and review panels for the National Science Foundation and other educa- tion organizations, including the Merck Institute for Science Education and the Cisco Learning Institute. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Educational Research Association. He has a Ph.D. in education administration and policy analy- sis from Stanford University and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Anne Marie Bergen is the coordinator of and teacher in the Oakdale Joint Unified District Science Program. Over the past 8 years she has created many programs—Passport to Science, From the River to the Tap, Salmon project—to link students and teachers to the world around them. With an emphasis on hands-on science experiences, she provides demonstra- tion labs and professional development to over 2,500 students and 100 teachers. She coordinates with area scientists to bring their expertise to elementary through high school students. Her honors include Stanislaus County Teacher of the Year 2002, California Teacher of the Year 2003, and the AMGEN Award for Science Teaching Excellence. Most recently she was honored as the 2008 Cal Poly Alumni of the Year for the College of Science and Mathematics. She is chair of the California Teacher Advisory

APPENDIX C 95 Council (Cal TAC), working to improve science, mathematics, engineer- ing, and technology education in California. Jeanne Century is director of science education and research and evalu- ation at the University of Chicago’s Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education (CEMSE). She directs several research and evalua- tion efforts and leads CEMSE’s other science education and research work. Previously, she was a senior project director in the Center for ­Science Edu- cation at the Education Development Center in Newton, Massachusetts. Century has spent the majority of her 20-year career working in and with urban schools and large urban school districts around the country. She has developed comprehensive science instructional materials for the elemen- tary and middle school levels as well as materials for informal settings. She has also conducted a range of professional development for teachers and school and district administrators around the country and provided technical assistance and strategic planning support to the leadership of science education improvement efforts at the school, district, and state levels. Her research and evaluation efforts have focused on the impact of inquiry-based science instruction, strategies for improving the use of research and evaluation, the sustainability of reform efforts, and measure- ment of innovation fidelity and use. Most recently, Century served on the education policy transition team and Department of Education agency review transition team for the Obama-Biden administration, focusing on STEM education and education research and development. She has a K-8 teaching certificate and an undergraduate degree in general science from Brandeis University and master’s and doctorate degrees in science educa- tion curriculum and teaching from Boston University. Nancy Chung is a fifth grade teacher in her eleventh year of teaching. She considers herself very fortunate to be teaching at the “world class” Hicks Canyon Elementary School in Irvine, California, where she is able to live out her dream and passion for teaching on a daily basis. With a bachelor of fine arts degree in art education from California State Univer- sity, ­Fullerton, and a multiple-subject credential and Masters of Education from Biola University, she has served as a master teacher, the district math coach, grade level lead, and Hicks Canyon Quad Mathalon coach. She has been an active member of the Tustin Unified School District Science Steering Committee, the Professional Learning Community Committee, the Response to Instruction Committee, and the California Distinguished School Committee. Committed to hands-on learning, she encourages her students to become lifelong learners.

96 NURTURING AND SUSTAINING EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS Susan Crandall is coordinator of the ScienceWorks Consortium, whose mission is to combine the resources of the Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach City, and the Westminster School Districts, as well as all other communities, to support all students in attaining high levels of scientific literacy. She develops and delivers staff development in science to K-8 t ­ eachers in 36 schools and supervises the Materials Resource Center, which refurbishes and circulates over 4,500 science modules to 55 schools in 5 school districts. Budget constraints have made establishing partner- ships with community and corporate leaders to sustain the programs of the ­ScienceWorks Consortium a major focus for the past three years. As a former educational consultant for Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin, R ­ iverside, and Laidlaw Brothers, Crandall has created and presented staff development workshops in all K-12 curriculum areas and assisted school districts with implementation of state standards and frameworks. With over 30 years in the classroom, she has completed extensive work inte- grating reading, language arts, and mathematics with science. Crandall has K-8 and K-12 teaching certificates from several states and administra- tive certificates in California. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and has a master’s in educational administration from United States International University, San Diego. Eilene Cross is an education consultant with the California Council on S ­ cience and Technology. From 1994 to 2007 she worked for Sandia National Laboratory/California as the program manager and head mentor of the intern program. She developed all aspects of the program, including recruitment, selection, project supervision, professional development, and evaluation. She established intern institutes in the fields of combustion research, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and advanced material devel- opment. She also served as a mentor in Sandia’s outreach program that h ­ onors and supports high school girls who are high achievers and rising stars in science and mathematics. She is a lead judge for the Intel Inter- national Science and Engineering Fair in the California tri-valley region. While at Sandia, Cross was also a research material scientist, working to develop room temperature radiation detectors. For this research, she received the Discover Magazine Innovation Award in 1997 and the R&D 100 Award in 1998, 1999, and 2001. From 1976 to 1994 she worked for EG&G in Santa Barbara as a senior scientist. Eilene has a B.S. in biology from Monmouth College and continued her studies in the M.A./Ph.D. program in geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Kathy DiRanna is the statewide director of the K-12 Alliance, which focuses on school and department-wide change by providing programs that address content, instructional strategies, assessment, and leader-

APPENDIX C 97 ship. She served as a principal investigator or project director for the C ­ alifornia Systemic Initiative, the Center for the Assessment and Evalua- tion of Student Learning (CAESL), and Science Partnerships for Articula- tion and Networking (SPAN). She has helped shape California’s science reform efforts for the past 23 years and continues to be an advocate for the reform efforts through the California Mathematics and Science Partnership ­ Program. She has served as the mentor coordinator for the National Academy of Science and Mathematics Education, codeveloped the professional development design of the BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) Science Curriculum Implementation Center, the Full Option Science System Leadership Academy, and the Using Data Project. She serves on a variety of advisory boards, has been a consultant on instructional mate­rials and multimedia productions, is a featured speaker at state and national conferences, and served as the program coordina- tor for National Science Teachers Association’s 2006 national conference. She is the coauthor of several publications and has received awards that include the Cal Alive Educator of the Year; WestEd’s Paul Hood Indi- vidual Award and Paul Hood Team Award for making significant con- tributions to the field; and the California Science Teachers Association’s highest honor, the ­Margaret Nicholson Award for distinguished service to science education. Rena Dorph is the director of the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (REA) at the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) at the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley. REA contributes to excellence, equity, and innovation in science and mathematics education by conducting applied research, evaluating the quality and impact of educational materials and programs, and developing assessments that measure knowledge and learning in science and mathematics. In this capacity, Dorph provides leadership and support for the LHS community as well as for organiza- tions that contract with the REA Center. She has worked in the field of education research and evaluation for 15 years. Previously she worked as director for Research, Policy, and Technology in the Teacher Educa- tion and Professional Development unit of the University of California Office of the President; as an education consultant for California schools, districts, and county offices of education; as the lead researcher and coor- dinator for the School Restructuring Study based at the University of C ­ alifornia, Berkeley; and for the National Center for Restructuring Educa- tion, Schools, and Teaching at Columbia University/Teachers College. She has a Ph.D. in education policy, organization, measurement, and evalua- tion from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in the sociology of education from Columbia University/Teachers College, and a B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Davis.

98 NURTURING AND SUSTAINING EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS Jacqueline Dorrance is executive director of the Arnold and Mabel B ­ eckman Foundation, one of the largest scientific foundations in the c ­ ountry. She is responsible for its overall management, including develop- ment of the current and long-range objectives, investment management, staff management and development, program development and manage- ment, public relations, human resource management, budget ­development and management, regulatory and financial oversight, and special event generation. From 1992 to 1994 she worked as chief administrative offi- cer of ARCO, Los Angeles. Her responsibilities included managing and directing the chairman’s staff, public relations, state and local government liaison activities, and board relations. Previously she worked for ARCO in Denver. She has also worked in the textile industry in the United States and China, working to improve working conditions in local Chinese fac- tories, quality control, pricing, office space planning, and development. She attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, majoring in business management. Jeffrey Estes is manager of the Office of Science Education and Commu- nity Relations at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). In this role, he oversees a laboratory-based science and engineering education program that spans elementary through undergraduate school. The pro- gram focuses on linking the laboratory’s human, financial, and technical resources with elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools to help improve the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). He oversees a portfolio of (1) workforce development programs for high school and undergraduate students, (2) laboratory- based professional development programs for precollege teachers and college/university faculty, (3) science education reform ­ projects in K-12 schools, and (4) outreach programs involving local schools and commu- nity organizations focused on STEM education. He is the coleader of the Washington State Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) Regional Partnership, providing the technical assistance required by school districts to initiate, implement, and sustain reform efforts. He manages a set of professional development, outreach, and technical assis- tance activities, provided by PNNL, that support LASER’s efforts. Now in his 34th year in education, Estes had worked in formal and informal education settings including elementary school, middle school, museum education, and a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory. Frank Frisch is a physiologist in the Department of Biological Sciences at Chapman University. His research and teaching areas are in the areas of metabolism. His current work is in the elucidation of bone metabolism, specifically ways in which rates of osteoporosis and osteopenia can be

APPENDIX C 99 attenuated. He teaches courses in comparative and human physiology and anatomy. He has a long-time interest in science education and in addition to his research grants is the coprincipal investigator for a grant from the California Postsecondary Education Commission focusing on science education for K-2 teachers, a California Mathematics and Science Partnership Collaboration for Support in Science Partnership for fourth and fifth grade teachers, and a lead scientist for another grant serving sixth and seventh grade teachers of science. His view is that the entire society must improve in science literacy in order to promote and advance civilization. Margaret Gaston is president and executive director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, a public policy organization focused on strengthening California’s teacher workforce. Prior to establishing the center in 1994, she was a special consultant to philanthropic organizations, advising foundation program officers, presidents, and board members on grant making to public education and education support entities. She has worked as a consultant and administrator for the California Department of Education, overseeing the School Improvement Program, the School Program Quality Review, Community Education, and other school reform efforts. At the local level, she has been an elementary school teacher, a categorical programs coordinator, and a high school vice principal. As San Diego State University’s distinguished alumna in the field of education in 2007, she received its Monty Award. She was appointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and now serves as vice chair. Susan Hackwood is executive director of the California Council on Sci- ence and Technology (CCST) and professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Riverside. CCST is a not-for-profit corporation comprised of 150 top science and technology leaders sponsored by the key academic and federal research institutions in California, which advises the state on all aspects of science and technology. In 1990, she became the founding dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Her current research interests include science and technology policy, innovation mechanisms, distributed asynchronous signal processing, and cellular robot systems. She is a fellow of the IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and holds honorary degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and DeMontfort University, UK. She has worked extensively with industry, academic, and government partnerships to identify policy issues of importance. She is currently involved with science and technology development in C ­ alifornia, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Costa Rica. She has a Ph.D. in solid state ionics from DeMontfort Uni-

100 NURTURING AND SUSTAINING EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS versity. Before joining academia, she was department head of device robotics technology research at AT&T Bell Labs. In 1984 she joined the University of California, Santa Barbara, as professor of electrical and computer engineering and was founder and director of the National Sci- ence Foundation’s Engineering Research Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics. Harry Helling is president and chief executive officer of the Crystal Cove Alliance (CCA) on the Newport Coast in California. CCA is a nonprofit partner of the California State Parks with the mission of developing innovative educational programs, coordinating ecological research that informs resource management decisions, and raising funds for restora- tion and conservation in the Parks’ historic district. He recently left the Ocean Institute, Dana Point, California, after 24 years as executive vice president in charge of education and research. He founded the Center for Cooperation for Research and Education in 2002 and has developed effective education and outreach partnerships with over 20 university research groups. He is principal investigator of SeaTech: Underserved Teens Hooked on Ocean Technology, which trains teens at Boys & Girls Clubs to contribute to whale bioacoustics research at the Scripps Institu- tion of Oceanography. Jay Labov is senior advisor for education and communication for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Research Council (NRC). He has been the study director and responsible staff officer for 10 NRC reports that have focused on many aspects of STEM education, including teacher education, advanced study for high school students, and evaluating and improving undergraduate education. He was the coprincipal investigator for a multiyear grant from the National Science Foundation to offer workshops to grantees of its Math/Science Partner- ship Initiative to enable them to better understand and implement the recommendations in NRC reports and other research literature on their own work. He also directed a committee of the NAS and the Institute of Medicine that authored Science, Evolution, and Creationism (2008) and con- tinues to oversee efforts at the NAS to confront challenges to the teaching of evolution in the nation’s public schools. Previously he was a member of the faculty in the Department of Biology at Colby College. He has a B.S. in biology from the University of Miami and an M.S. in zoology and a Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Rhode Island. He was awarded a Kellogg National Fellowship (1988-1990), elected as a fellow in education of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2005, and appointed as a Woodrow Wilson visiting fellow in 2008.

APPENDIX C 101 Arthur Levine is the sixth president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. Previously, he was president and professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia Uni- versity. He also served as chair of the higher education program, chair of the Institute for Educational Management, and senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He was president of Bradford College (1982-1989) and senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation and the Carnegie Council for Policy Studies in Higher Education (1975-1982). His most recent book is When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today’s College Student (with Jeanette S. Cureton). Much of his research and writ- ing in recent years has focused on increased educational opportunity and strengthening schools of education. He has received numerous honors, including a Guggenheim fellowship and a Carnegie fellowship, as well as the American Council on Education’s Book of the Year award (for Reform of Undergraduate Education), the Educational Press Association’s annual award for writing (three times), and 19 honorary degrees. He has a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York, Buffalo. Sue Neuen is director of professional development in Orange County at the California Science Center. In that capacity, she leads the Science@OC initiatives, which are designed to provide an infrastructure to deliver com- prehensive, research-based sustainable programs to reform how students learn, teachers teach, and the community supports science education. Sup- port for teachers of middle school science—“the gatekeepers to success in high school science”—is the current focus of the Orange County Middle School Initiative through Science@OC. She has served as a resource team leader for 26 of the National Science Resources Center’s National and Regional Leadership Assistance for Science Education Reform Strategic Planning Institutes from 1997 to 2009. She is directing the formation of the California STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Coalition, an affiliate program of the National Alliance for State Science and Math Coalitions, consisting of education, business, and public policy leaders. As associate vice president for the Americas for MANCEF, the Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Education Foundation, she is an international speaker on global competitiveness, STEM educa- tion, and the 21st century workforce. She is cofounder of Neusoli, an education architectural firm designed to educate the public and build the nanotechnology workforce pipeline. From 1996 to 2003 she was director of the Einstein Project in Green Bay, Wisconsin; under her leadership, the project grew from a county program to a national model, nonprofit orga- nization providing services to 69 school districts statewide.

102 NURTURING AND SUSTAINING EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS Carlo Parravano is executive director of the Merck Institute for Science Education, where he is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of numerous initiatives to improve science education. Previously he was professor of chemistry and chair of the Division of Natural Sciences at the State University of New York (SUNY) at ­Purchase and director of the Center for Mathematics and Science Education of the SUNY/Purchase-Westchester School Partnership. He is a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and a national associ- ate of the National Academies. He is an active member in a number of pro- fessional organizations, and he is the recipient of the SUNY ­Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching; the National Science ­Teachers Associ- ation’s Distinguished Service to Science Education Award; the Keystone Center’s Leadership in Education Award; Rutgers ­ University’s Distin- guished Leader Award; and the Education 500 Leadership Award of the Institute for Education Excellence and Entrepreneurship. His research experience has been in the area of molecular beam studies of excited atoms and molecules and the application of physical chemical techniques to the solution of biochemical and environmental problems. He has a B.A. in chemistry from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Greg Pearson is a senior program officer in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). In that role, he develops and manages new areas of activity related to K-12 engineering education, technological literacy, and the public understanding of engineering. He is currently at work on two projects: “Understanding and Improving K-12 Engineering in the United States” and “Exploring Content Standards for Engineering Education in K-12.” He was the study director for a project that resulted in the 2008 publication Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improv- ing Public Understanding of Engineering and was coeditor of the reports Tech Tally: Approaches to Assessing Technological Literacy (2006) and Tech- nically Speaking: Why All Americans Need to Know More About Technology (2002). In the late 1990s, Pearson oversaw NAE and National Research Council reviews of technology education content standards developed by the International Technology Education Association. He works with colleagues inside and outside the National Academies on a variety of projects involving K-12 science, mathematics, technology, and engineer- ing education and the ­public understanding of engineering and science. He has an underg­raduate degree in biology from Swarthmore College and a graduate degree in journalism from American University. Susan M. Pritchard is a middle school science teacher with the La Habra City School District in California. A passionate science advocate, she

APPENDIX C 103 encourages students to succeed both in academics and in life choices and does not allow them to accept failure. She will keep students after school (with parental support) until the work expected is completed to the best of their abilities. From achieving her national board certification in early adolescence science to continuing her pursuit of knowledge through col- lege science courses, Pritchard is always seeking ways to better explain science concepts to her students through exciting inquiry-based investiga- tions. Borrowing ideas from courses and workshops and adapting them to her eighth grade curriculum allows her to enhance student-learned out- comes in a motivating and positive classroom atmosphere. With a belief that a science-literate citizenry will greatly benefit the world’s future, her goal is to have her students become science ambassadors who can reach out to their community, teach people about science concepts, and further their own lifelong learning in the process. As a member of the California Teachers Advisory Council (Cal TAC) and the California ­Science ­Teachers Association (CSTA) Board of Directors for over 7 years, currently as past president, she promotes science education throughout the state. She has a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate School, an M.S. from California State Uni- versity, Fullerton, and a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. Pattie Romero is a fifth grade teacher in the Brea-Olinda Unified School District. With 21 years of experience, she is a two-time Teacher of the Year recipient. She has worked with the Beckman@Science Program since its inception in all capacities of the program, including teacher leader, science education fellow, and program director. Her responsibilities have included running a county-wide materials center and a professional development program. She has an M.A. in teaching science from California State Uni- versity, Fullerton, and an administrative credential from the University of California, Irvine.

Next: Appendix D: Summary of Selected National Academies Reports »
Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $50.00 Buy Ebook | $40.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

K-8 science education in California (as in many other parts of the country) is in a state of crisis. K-8 students in California spend too little time studying science, many of their teachers are not well prepared in the subject, and the support system for science instruction has deteriorated. A proliferation of overly detailed standards and poorly conceived assessments has trivialized science education. And all these problems are likely to intensify: an ongoing fiscal crisis in the state threatens further cutbacks, teacher and administrator layoffs, and less money for professional development.

A convocation held on April 29-30, 2009, sought to confront the crisis in California science education, particularly at the kindergarten through eighth grade level. The convocation, summarized in this volume, brought together key stakeholders in the science education system to enable and facilitate an exploration of ways to more effectively, efficiently, and collectively support, sustain, and communicate across the state concerning promising research and practices in K-8 science education and how such programs can be nurtured by communities of stakeholders.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!