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Session 5 - Education.
Display session, Monday, January 13
Metropolitan Ballroom,
Science Partners for Teachers is a group of scientists (mostly graduate students) in the physical and biological sciences at the University of Chicago which establishes one-on-one partnerships with Chicago-area K-12 school teachers. The goal is to have both partners benefit from the interaction. As scientists, we want to learn more about how to teach, how to develop lesson plans, and improve our ability to disseminate scientific knowledge (with an eye towards increasing our marketability for our future job searches). In exchange, we offer to be a resource for teachers looking to update their science curricula and to help incorporate and increase the use of computers, and the internet into the classroom. But most of all, we want to develop a relationship in which the scientist gains an inside look at teaching while the teacher gains an inside look at science and the way science is done.
This model for scientist-teacher interaction is unique among the ones we have encountered as it involves a one-on-one partnering between adults (no K-12 students involved) and is specficially tailored to mesh well with an over-committed graduate student's schedule.
This group was founded and continues to be run by several astrophysics graduate students who are looking for creative ways to help themselves and other grad students prepare for alternative careers related to education, preferably involving both research and outreach.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: partners@astro.uchicago.edu
