Nancy Hutchison, Director

Organization's Vision for Science Education in Washington State:

The Science Education Partnership builds relationships between secondary science teachers and the Hutchinson Center, connecting teachers with scientists plus the resources of the Center and our local corporate and academic partner institutions. Learn, Experiment, Teach—describes the SEP approach that includes hands-on workshops, short research lab experiences, pedagogical content knowledge development, and a unique, ongoing professional community that fosters effective teaching and learning.

Lead Teachers, a team of experienced SEP teachers, join SEP staff in teaching the professional development workshops and help bridge the school and research cultures. As part of the program, mentor scientists from the Hutch and partner sites host teachers for a short research experience in the lab. Access to the SEP Kit Loan program is a critical component of our success. The loaner kits offer thousands of students in Washington State the opportunity to learn basic concepts of biotechnology, genetics, and molecular biology by working directly with the tools and techniques used in life science research. As ongoing members of the SEP community teachers have continued free access to kits, technical support, resource library, seminars, surplus lab supplies, and a professional network of teachers and scientists.

As we celebrate our 20th anniversary this year, we applaud the more than 400 teachers and mentor scientists who help form the SEP community. We also acknowledge our institutional partners including Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, ZymoGenetics, Amgen, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, and the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program. Major funding for SEP comes from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Hutchinson Center.

SEP was founded by a collaborating group of teachers and scientists who started with the concept of working together in partnership and through professional networks, but with a clear focus on individuals. This focus on individuals has not been the dominant educational change strategy over the last couple of decades as funders and educational agencies have explored systemic reforms and various models for change. Over time, trends shifted, funders tried new directions, and charismatic leaders moved on. Yet, at its heart, science teaching remains very much about how and what individual teachers do in their classrooms. Thus a focus on individual teachers has enormous value. The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, reporting on the high cost of teacher turnover (2007), estimated these costs at over $7 billion per year. An important related finding is that only 50% of new teachers remain in the classroom over the first 5 years of their careers (NCTAF, 2003). Clearly teacher retention is a complex issue with many factors of influence, but self-efficacy and effectiveness play large. Like most people, teachers want to be effective, and they want their students to be successful learners. To be effective, teachers need opportunities to keep learning in support of their ongoing professional growth; they need resources to teach science effectively (and have obstacles reduced); and they need time and support to try things and reflect on what worked and what didn’t, including the opportunity to reflect with colleagues who also have student learning at the center of their teaching. For science teachers, key needs are opportunities and experiences to see themselves as scientists and as part of the greater scientific community. Teachers strongly articulated these needs in the early years of SEP, and the program model and design strategies are a direct response to these needs. The ongoing nature of the SEP experience and support by the program staff also address these critical needs.

Working with scientists and Lead Teachers, SEP teacher-participants learn relevant and exciting new content including concepts and techniques coming out of life sciences research and biotechnology. Then they work in labs side by side with their mentor scientists, being a scientist. In the third segment, each teacher customizes a learning experience for his/her own classroom and students, using the Understanding by Design or backward design approach. The SEP Kit Loan Program provides equipment and supplies that support hands-on learning in the classroom over successive years, allowing teachers to reflect and to refine their teaching and class management (SEP supported ~25,000 student-uses of kits last year). As a strong indicator of positive results, we see that SEP teachers engage and recruit their colleagues so that science departments and sometimes districts reshape their science offerings (particularly biology) to include molecular biology and biotechnology in the curriculum for all students. We also see SEP teachers take on additional leadership roles and grow in their professional involvements, for example working toward National Board Certification and supporting students in the Student BioExpo and Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

SEP’s advocacy also extends to scientists and partner sites. We work directly with molecular biology graduate students to improve their ability to communicate science and provide opportunities for gaining practical experience. SEP mentor scientists enjoy the opportunity to share their knowledge and enthusiasm and pay forward the inspiration many received from teachers along the way. Partner sites, including Amgen, ZymoGenetics, SBRI, ISB, Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the UW Genome Sciences, value the opportunity to involve their scientists and to excite students through the experiences of their teachers. Partner sites also donate surplus equipment and supplies to SEP for the Kit Loan Program and for direct donation to SEP teachers. We also take seriously our role as one of many science education programs both locally and nationally and actively engage in these networks for the synergistic opportunities that result while avoiding reinventing the wheel. As an example, we host Seattle workshops by the Dolan DNA Learning Center of Cold Spring Harbor so that Washington teachers get the opportunity to learn to effectively use their excellent web resources. A similar collaboration with the Center for Biomolecular Modeling is bringing area teachers tools for teaching structure/function relationships and using models to support student learning. Local collaborations such as the LEAP conferences and the upcoming DNA Day workshop (lead by NWABR) keep our work fresh and relevant (and fun).