Training Camp for Science Teachers

Image source - http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i21/Training-Camp-Science-Teachers.html

The summer of 2012 saw a number of new teacher camps as the ASM Foundation continued to expand the materials science teacher camps to a larger and larger audience. One of the new camps was held at the University of Indianapolis, and we (I taught the camp that year with Becky Heckman) were lucky enough to get a pop-in from Mitch Jacoby from Chemical & Engineering News. Mitch's article took a few months to find its way into print, but the article is well worth a read.

I am particularly happy about the last few paragraphs...

ASM’s data show that of the roughly 4,000 “graduates” over the past 10 years, about 60% of whom teach high school chemistry, more than 80% incorporate some of the camp activities into their teaching.

Marilyn Weiss, who teaches Advanced Placement and other chemistry classes at Park Tudor Upper School in Indianapolis, says she includes many of the lessons she learned at the camp last summer. Examples include exercises on metal plating and electrochemistry, as well as experiments on the properties of metals and alloys and physical differences between two polymers.

In addition to picking up valuable teaching techniques, Tracy Schloemer, a 10th-grade chemistry teacher at Denver School of Science & Technology, says she made great contacts at the camp last summer. “As a teacher, I find networking can be tough. The ASM camp enabled me to meet a diverse crowd of teachers and academic faculty.” Schloemer gives the camp a thumbs-up and is quick to recommend it to colleagues. “It’s free, and you get plenty of stuff to use in the classroom. Why wouldn’t you want to go?”

Thanks for the good coverage, Mitch