Research Projects

Kris

Kris is a high school biology teacher who emphasizes positive classroom relationships as a means of motivating her students.

Positive Self Talk

Kris helps her students deal with test anxiety.

Class Camaraderie

Kris prepares students for test by prompting positive relationships.

Building Test Confidence

Kris uses preparation to decrease test anxiety and instills confidence in her students that they are ready.

Caring Promotes Success

Students talk about how Kris’s care and expectations for them make them want to work hard

Study Partners

Kris emphasizes the importance of studying together and how this benefits learning.

Story Telling

Students talk about how storytelling increases interest, enjoyment, and value in Kris’s class

Deb

Deb is a high school environmental science teacher who gets her students engaged in many ways. We visited Mighty Acorns and Literacy Night, programs where students engage as mentors of younger students.

Mighty Acorns

Learn about the Mighty Acorns program from high schoolers who mentor younger students.

Promoting Success

Students talk about how their teacher provides them with the tools they need to be successful by providing instrumental support.

Jitters and Joy

Students have some jitters before stepping into a teaching role but end up enjoying it. 

Fostering Interest

A student talks about how novelty, story-telling, and her teacher’s passion for science create interest.

A Valuable Experience

Students talk about hands-on learning in the Mighty Acorns program, and the benefits thereof.

Rising to the Occasion

Students work together to meet their teacher’s high expectations, demonstrating leadership and responsibility as they instruct younger students in the Mighty Acorns program.

Literacy Night

What is Literacy Night? High school students take on responsibility as teachers of younger students at literacy night, thus increasing their confidence as leaders.

A Big Responsibility

A female student talks about how opportunities to take responsibility and show initiative related to her science class has made learning more meaningful and engaging.

This is Fun!

Students experience the intrinsic value of learning and deepen their learning for the purpose of teaching the younger children.

Ray

Ray is a student-centered high school chemistry teacher who uses the inquiry approach for boosting student learning.

Collaboration

Ray and his students talk about how collaboration boosts positive learning experiences.

Supporting Inquiry

Ray provides reassurance, feedback, and instrumental support to promote deeper learning during inquiry projects.

Positive Climate

Ray demonstrates and his students evince benefits of building strong relationships in the classroom.

Technology for Success

Ray talks about how he promotes student success by assessing student progress and providing help and feedback when and where students need it using technology.

Capturing Interest

Ray talks about the importance of capturing students’ interest early on and making them think, which is reflected in his students’ descriptions of chemistry as interesting and fun.

Inquiry Process

Students feel motivated and accomplished doing a lab using inquiry approach in Ray’s class.

Matt

Matt teaches physical science to freshman students. He is especially good at promoting their interest and success in high school science.

Making Content Relevant

Matt promotes relevance in his classroom by applying concepts from science class to everyday situations which students experience or see in the news.

Supporting Science

Matt sets students up for success by offering feedback and extra support as needed.

A Personal Example

By sharing a personal story, Matt connects with students and shows them even difficult goals can be reached.

Coping with Fear

Matt shows how addressing fear of something like fire can help make students comfortable enough to reduce anxiety.

Using Everyday Examples

Matt uses common snack products to teach students about how different types of fuel generate different amounts of energy.

Sparking Situational Interest

Matt promotes interest by using novelty in the classroom.

Steve

Steve teaches physics to juniors and seniors. He is dedicated to promoting a growth mindset among his students and is known for his use of humor and affiliation. 

Jigsaw Cooperative Learning

Steve talks about how using cooperative groups in a jigsaw model focuses students on the learning process and lets them become experts within the group.

Learning for a Purpose

Steve’s students write letters to 5^th graders about how the brain works, which increases their sense of value in learning the material themselves.

Using Humor

Steve stresses the importance of having fun in the classroom, for the sake of both the teacher and the students.

Why Mindset Matters

Steve talks about why he uses mindset theory in his classroom and how important he believes awareness of one’s mindset to be.

What is Mindset

Steve and his students talk about what mindset is.

Mastery Goals

Steve promotes mastery goals.

Greg

Greg contributes to science education in many ways. We visited his tenth grade physical science class when students were engaged in a vermaculture project that he ties to numerous scientific concepts in the curriculum.    

Intrinsic Motivation

Greg fosters learning by planning relevant projects.

Rigor and Relevance

Students engage in rigorous scientific activity by asking real questions.

Garbage to Gold

Greg puts his students in charge of important tasks in the classroom.

Inquiry Project 1

Students engage in inquiry projects and ask questions that matter to them.

Inquiry Project 2

A small group of students works on an inquiry project.

Supporting Growth

Students who have been underrepresented in science flourish with support. 

No Squeamishness Here

 When students do work that matters, they overcome their squeamishness.

Meg

Meg teaches biology and environmental science to freshman and sophomore students in a suburban high school.  She is known for her use of problem based learning and for engaging her students in service projects related to science.  

Service Learning

Meg’s students apply Biology to benefit the world outside school.

PBL Process

PBL is a process that enfolds over time in Meg’s classroom.

Cooperative Learning

Students work in cooperative groups as they conduct research and do experiments during a problem based learning project.  

Teacher’s Role in Problem Based Learning

Meg exemplifies the teacher’s role in PBL

Autonomy Support

Meg supports student autonomy during a problem based learning project.

Why PBL

Meg and her students provide reasons for why PBL (problem based learning)is a valuable approach to learning science.

Kelda

Kelda teaches geology to upper classman at a diverse exurban high school. She is deeply loved by her students for her enthusiasm and encouragement. Kelda engages parents as partners and works with Mike to provide field experiences.  

Connecting with Families

Kelda believes strongly that engaging parents has a huge pay off and consequently communicates with them in a way that promotes student learning.

Enthusiasm is Motivating

Kelda’s students and their parents talk about how she motivates and promotes interest in geology through her passion for the topic.

Fostering Mastery Goals

Kelda and Mike lead their students to value learning over performance, to understand themselves as learners, and to form connected knowledge about science and foster a mastery orientation as a result.

Mike

Mike teaches environmental science to upper classman.  He challenges his students and helps them learn how to be successful.   His passion is outdoor education and he works hard with Kelda to provide it for students and parents.

Students as Teachers

Field trips are organized so that Mike’s students take responsibility for teaching each other and their parents about what they are seeing and experiencing. 

Fun Mnemonic Device

Mike uses a silly song as a mnemonic strategy to help students and their parents remember different kinds of oak trees and to laugh and have fun while they are learning.

A Challenging Teacher

Mike believes that challenges are opportunities and his students attest to the fact that his class is demanding which has led them to learn more and be more interested than they are in other classes.

Reflective Experience

The reflective experiences that Mike provides for his students in natural settings allow for differentiation, deepens students’ learning, and challenges them to think.

Regina

Regina is a high energy physicist whose work is highly collaborative. She talks about important aspects of motivation that influenced her to become a scientist.

Area of Science

Learn more about Regina and her area of science.

Importance of Challenge

Regina talks about the importance of challenge for instilling a sense of accomplishment

Importance of Parents and Teachers

Regina talks about the importance of parents and teachers taking children’s curiosity seriously in order to develop scientific mindsets and interest from a young age.

Interest and Confidence

Regina discusses how specific content in her physics class captivated her interest and how her teacher’s faith in her made her confident enough to pursue science as a career.

Overcoming Doubts

Regina shares how she overcame doubts about entering the physics field that were caused by an older male professor who told her women should not do physics.

Dionne

Dionne specializes in biophysical chemistry and diabetes research. She talks about how support from others was key to her choice of becoming a scientist

Area of Science

Learn more about Dionne and her area of science.

Confidence and Competence

Dionne talks about how her teachers’ belief in her boosted her confidence and helped her recognize her competence as a female scientist

Real World Connections

Dionne talks about how real world connections in science class boosted her interest in science

Importance of Support

Dionne shares how her mother’s support kept her going and made her a confident scientist

Shari

Shari is an immunologist specializing in cancer research who believes that mistakes are part of the learning process.  She was deeply influenced to pursue science by her high school biology teacher and her parents.

Area of Science

Learn more about Shari and her chosen area of science

Support from Teachers

Shari talks about how positive teacher-student relationships made her want to work hard and how extra support from teachers can be crucial to student success

Importance of Mistakes

Shari stresses the importance of viewing mistakes as learning opportunities in science

Teacher and Parental Support

Shari talks about how teacher and parent support and encouragement gave her confidence to pursue science

Georgia

Georgia is a computer scientist who was inspired to believe in herself by a great high school math teacher. She now teaches computer science and gaming.

Learn About Georgia

Learn more about Georgia.

Role of Challenge and Effort

Georgia talks about how she often lacked confidence, even though her performance suggested she was highly competent and the role of challenge and effort in her success.

Importance of Teacher’s Beliefs

Georgia talks about how her teacher’s belief in her enlisted parental support for a science career and gave her confidence in her chosen field.

Angela

Angela seeks to understand how social bonds relate to stress and heart disease. She aims to find better ways for psychologists to prevent and treat those problems.

Learn About Angela

Learn more about Angela and her area of research

Importance of Persuasion

Angela discusses how persuasion from her teachers helped her feel more confident and work harder.

Importance of Parental Engagement

Angela talks about how her parents encouraged her to seek information about her areas of interest in science and how their engagement supported her.

Goal Setting and Hard Work

Angela talks about how she learned goal setting and the value of hard work from her most influential role models – her parents.

Importance of Relevance

Angela tells how a high school teacher helped her understand the relevance of the material they were studying.

Laura

Laura, a food scientist and toxicologist, was motivated to be a scientist by a challenging high school teacher and by Regina.  She was the chief scientist at the National Confectioners Association when these videos were made.

Learn About Laura

 Learn more about Laura

Teacher Enthusiasm

Laura talks about how her science teacher inspired her by making connections to his students and showing great enthusiasm for science.

Positive Challenge

Laura talks about how positive challenge in a class sparked interest and engagement.

Gender Equality

Laura discusses the benefits of her science teacher’s habit of holding boys and girls to equally high standards in the classroom.

Student Empowerment

Laura talks about how her teacher empowered her to intervene when a fellow student was being picked on.

Importance of Adult Influence

Laura shares how a friend’s mother who is a scientist influenced her interest in science and inspired her to become a scientist herself.

Importance of Role Models

Laura talks about her college professor’s initiative to bring diverse groups of female college science students into middle schools as role models.