High school teachers study at UC research academy

This summer 14 California high school and on community college science teacher will have an opportunity to explore cutting-edge lab research through a program UC Davis and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory offer to promote high-level science education.

"The intention of the program is to provide teachers with access to the scientific community and for teachers to learn how to bring the real world of scientific research into the classroom," said Carey Kopay, executive director of the Edward Teller Education Center.

Each teacher will serve a six-week internship, working with scientists from Department of Energy labs including Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories and the Joint Genome Institute. The internships are the fourth and final part of a four-level Teacher Research Academy offered each summer through the Edward Teller Education Center. The first three levels offer workshops focused on biotechnology, biophotonics, energy technologies, fusion and astrophysics. Grants from the Department of Energy and the Amgen Foundation enable the program to give the teachers small stipends to pay for living or commuting expenses while they're working at the labs.

Christina Fugazi, a teacher in the Venture Academy School in Stockton, is eager to get into the lab with her mentor, Sandia Lab researcher Kim Tran, to work on nanotechnology research, an emerging field she's eager to introduce to her students.

"I'll be able to take what I learn in the lab back to my classroom," said Fugazi. "I can't wait to hear them say, 'Where do you come up with this stuff?'"

Her mentor, Tran, a former New York City high school science teacher, understands the challenge of getting young people excited over science.

"The teachers get to learn a different type of science here," Tran said. "These projects are happening now. We don't know what the results will be. The experiments in the textbooks you use in schools have been done thousands of times. Everyone knows what the results will be."

The opportunity to engage in hands-on science in a world-class lab gets the teachers plenty excited themselves.

"After teaching for a number of years, it's neat to see really advanced science and to remember what it was like when you were in college and figuring this stuff out for the first time," said Joseph Blanchard, science department chair at Wasco Union High School in Kern County.

Both Blanchard and Todd Chambers, a teacher at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, south of Yuba City, are taking advantage of the program's option to earn a master's degree. Teachers who register for all four levels of this professional development program can apply 10 units toward completing a master’s of science education degree through California State University, East Bay. The remaining units to complete the degree can all be earned through online courses.

Both men teach in rural areas where it would be hard to commute to a campus where they could participate in an advanced degree program. The Teacher Research Academy option is making it possible for them to advance their teaching skills and personal goals of getting a master's degree.

Most of their students will go to work in agriculture, they said, and few will go to college. But that doesn't stop the teachers from trying to get those students interested.

"We know most of our students won't be scientists, but that doesn't mean they can't do science," said Blanchard.

For unmotivated students who aren't into science, said Erin McKay, a Tracy High teacher, hands-on instruction is an even more important learning approach for them than the students already working on an advanced level.

"This internship helps me figure out the areas I need to focus on in the classroom," McKay said. "This gives me a structured way to think about how to apply what I do here to my lesson plans."