APS Fellowship programs

Education
Forty-six Science Teacher Fellows From Across the Nation Participate in APS Fellowship Programs
This spring 46 teachers from across the nation are participating in the 2011 Frontiers in Physiology Professional Development Fellowship Programs sponsored by the APS (http://www.frontiersinphys.org). Seventeen teachers were selected as the 2011 Research Teacher (RT) Fellows and 29 teachers were awarded as the 2011 Online Teacher Fellows (OTFs). Frontiers in Physiology was recognized as a “Model for Excellence in Science Education” by the Center for Excellence in Education in 2010, and is sponsored by the APS, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

One component of the traditional Research Teacher fellowship that the APS has offered over the last two decades is a local partnership between the science teacher and an APS member, who jointly applied to the program and committed to contributing a portion of the teacher’s fellowship payments. APS members serve as hosts and mentors to the teachers by providing each teacher fellow with a physiology-based laboratory research experience for seven to eight weeks this summer. Through this opportunity, the RTs learn first-hand how the research process works, allowing them to enhance their own science teaching with their students in the classroom. The RTs will also be attending the “APS Science Teaching Forum,” an intensive workshop week focused on student-centered teaching methods at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, VA. Along with an invited APS member physiologist, the 2011 K-12 Outreach Fellows, past teacher fellows who serve as teacher mentor/instructors, and APS Education Office staff, the RTs will use APS curriculum units that explore inquiry-based teaching strategies, how to integrate technology into their classroom, and equity and diversity issues in science education. As part of the fellowship in the fall, the RTs will develop and refine their own inquiry-based, student-centered lab activity for the science classroom. Finally, the RTs conclude their fellowship year by experiencing a scientific meeting at Experimental Biology 2012 in San Diego, CA.

The Online Teacher Fellow program was made possible with a supplemental grant awarded to the APS last fall as part of the existing SEPA teacher professional development program. The award allows the APS to replicate the pilot Frontiers Online Teacher Program established 2010. The online program delivered on a course management system is an adaption of the more traditional comprehensive RT program, which includes not only the online program, but a summer research experience, a summer workshop week, and travel to EB 2012 for participation and an awards ceremony.

The lessons, assignments, discussions, and activities in both fellowship programs are structured in the APS Six Star Science framework for promoting excellence in science education. The Six Star Science principles address student-centered learning, equity and diversity, technology in the classroom, authentic assessment on content and pedagogy, updated content, and intentional reflection. As part of the both fellowship programs, the RTs and OTFs will develop and refine their own inquiry-based, student-centered lab activity for the science classroom.

The following are the 2011 APS Online Teacher Fellows, listed alphabetically by the teacher’s last name:

Katie Anderson, Dakota Middle School, Rapid City, SD; Myra Arnone, Redmond High School, Redmond, WA; Daniel Bartsch, Billings Senior High, Billings, MT; Sarah Berlinger, Littleton High School, Littleton, MA; Rebecca Block, Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences, Tulsa, OK; Wanda Bryant, Detroit Public Schools, Detroit, MI; Regina Cowan, Detroit Public Schools, Detroit, MI; Greg Dierson, Great Plains Lutheran High School, Watertown, SD; Mary Eldredge-Sandbo, Des Lacs-Burlington High School, Des Lacs, ND; Myriaha Felker, Cabell Midland High, Ona, WV; Charles Galarza, Nolan Richardson Middle School, El Paso, TX; Ellen Gant, Dakota Valley High School, North Souix City, SD; Denise Gipson, Jefferson High School, Shenandoah Junction, WV; Jennifer Gonzales, Tafolla Middle School, San Antonio, TX; Mary Haus, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Kelly Hennessey, A.C. Davis High School, Yakima, WA; Cora James, Haskell High School, Haskell, OK; Cathy Johnson, Drayton Public School, Drayton, ND; Nancy Keller, Heritage High School, Vancouver, WA; Tami Kepshire, Portage High School, Portage, IN; Carla McFadden, Okanogan School District, Okanogan, WA; Jannette Moehlman, Dakota Middle School, Rapid City, SD; Melanie Shaver, West McDowell Jr. High, Marion, NC; Tara Veazey, Riverside High School, Charleston, WV; Darrell Walker, Elizabeth City Middle School, Elizabeth City, NC; Pete Whipple, Bowdish Middle School, Spokane Valley, WA; William Wilson, Clover Park High School, Lakewood, WA; Debora Wines, Central Catholic High School, Billings, MT; and Daniel Zielaski, Phelps ACE SHS, DC Public Schools, Washington, DC.

The following are the 2011 APS Research Teacher/Host Partnerships, listed alphabetically by the teacher’s last name:

Sandra Bickerstaff, South Carolina State Univ., Orangeburg, SC; Sweitzer M. Sarah, and L. Britt Wilson, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC; Laura Carlino, Upper St. Clair High School, Upper St. Clair, PA; Bill Yates, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; Elizabeth Charleston, York Country Day School, York, PA; Leonard S. Jefferson, Penn State Univ., Hershey, PA; Nelia Delos Reyes, Hartman Middle School, Houston, TX; Rolando E. Rumbaut, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Laura (L.B.) Fogt, Olathe North High School, Overland Park, KS; Shrikant Anant, Kansas Univ., Kansas City, KS; Elizabeth Hunt Esco, Olathe High School, Olathe, KS; Norberto C. Gonzalez, Kansas Univ., Kansas City, KS; Ashley Ivins, Mescalero Apache High School, Mescalero, NM; Nancy Kanagy, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Julia Lawrence, DeSoto Independent School District, Glenn Heights, TX; Tony G. Babb, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas/UT Southwestern Medical Center; Fredrica Nash, Hillside New Tech High School, Durham, NC; Amy M. Pastva, and Jo Rae Wright, Duke Univ., Durham, NC; Jane Raabis, North High School, Worcester, MA; Stephen Doxsey, Univ. of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA; Devalyn Rogers, Pershing Middle School, Houston, TX; Patrick M. Dougherty, Univ. of Texas, Houston, TX; Pauline Schork, Clinton High School, Clinton, WI; Kathryn M.S. Johnson, Beloit College, Beloit, WI; Stacy Schurtz, Pike Township School District, Indianapolis, IN; C. Subah Packer, Indiana Univ., Indianapolis, IN; Sue Speirs, Grosse Pointe Public Schools, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI; Patrick Joseph Mueller, Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI; Christopher Stotts, Lincoln Memorial Univ., Harrogate, TN; Stan C. Kunigelis, DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Harrogate, TN; Lucina Velasquez-Lopez, Flowing Wells High School, Tucson, AZ; Thomas L. Pannabecker, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; and Leslie Worton, Edison High School, Fresno, CA; Henry A. Lester, California Inst. of Technology, Pasadena, CA.