My primary goal in education is to help individuals of all ages develop the potential to become problem solvers involving science, mathematics or engineering concepts. To this end I have worked with kindergarten students to adults in classrooms as well as at community events such as the Lentil Festival in Pullman.

To accomplish my goals of helping individuals become science literate I use a variety of strategies, not the least of which is a modified Socratic method of interaction along many active learning techniques. Everything I do is designed to help the individuals take responsibility for their own learning and to become lifelong learners in science.

After many years of teaching I have become committed to the learning cycle as a tool for learning. Recent work on how people learn in science and mathematics reinforces my commitment to this strategy. This is difficult to do in courses with large enrollments but I have been working hard to find ways to do this successfully.

A second area of concern for science education is the lack of appropriate equipment and technology in the K-12 classroom. To this end I have been able to find funding to keep the WSU Equipment Loan Program up and running for almost 15 years. The program was started with a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and has been sustained by a variety of organizations and individuals over the years.

My goal for this program is to allow teachers to implement research-based curriculum in their classroom under conditions where they would not be able to do so due to a lack of certain types of equipment such as DNA electrophoresis, spectrophotometers or water quality testing equipment.

What is most important is how the equipment is used not the fact that it is available for use. To help achieve this goal I have delivered numerous professional development opportunities from one-day workshops to a full Masters degree in Biology with an emphasis on Biotechnology. Finally, I try to instill these principles in my re-service teachers as they prepare to enter the classroom.

For the past twenty years Paznokas has been involved with a variety of initiatives involving science education K-20. Paznokas has maintained an equipment loan program for middle and high school science teachers since 1992. A grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute supported the purchase of over $150,000 (1992 $) of equipment such as spectrophotometers, DNA Electrophoresis equipment, water quality test kits, and skeletons. Over 100 teachers and 10,000 students use this equipment in an inquiry-based, hands-on laboratory or field experience each year. This equipment is considered by most of the teachers in the program to be essential for addressing Washington’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) in science.

AS Director of SMEEC (Science Mathematics Engineering Education Center) Paznokas brings together educators from WSU Colleges of Education, Engineering, Sciences and Agriculture, the University of Idaho, local K-12 educators and administrators and community leaders to focus discussions on issues of K-20 education. As a result, over $3,000,000 in grants have been funded and administered through SMEEC and numerous others through home departments and Educational Service Districts.

For the past eight years, Paznokas has organized a meeting, in Pullman, of the teachers of teachers of sciences (TOTOS) in Washington State. This meeting is designed to bring together science education faculty at teacher preparation programs in the state to discuss issues related to teacher preparation, EALRs, National Science Education Standards, inquiry-based science, Nature of Science and any other issues related to teacher preparation. Science Methods faculty from each of the teacher preparation programs of the state are invited and at least 10 programs are represented each year.

He has organized and delivered curriculum-planning workshops for K-8 Professional Development Schools (Hood Canal, Colville, Pullman, Grey Middle School in Tacoma) partnering with WSU through a US Department of Education grant to WSU. He has organized and helped deliver numerous workshops for secondary science teachers (WASTA, CoTeach, NW Biology Teachers Association, and Eisenhower In-Service workshops). Through funding from Boeing, Lynda and Skip Paznokas were able to assist 10 small school districts in Eastern Washington to attend a LASER summer Strategic Planning Institute. He continues to work with these districts as they choose curriculum and begin to implement new curriculum materials.

At the University level he continues to find faculty support for curriculum development especially for introductory mathematics and science courses taken by pre-service teachers. He works closely with faculty from the College of Education, College of Engineering and the College of Agriculture and Home Economics on these projects. At the graduate level, Paznokas developed and delivered a Master in Biology with emphasis on biotechnology for 14 middle and high school teachers. He currently teaches the “Methods of Teaching Science” course for pre-service secondary science education majors and a graduate level course in “Science Teaching at the University Level.”

Paznokas also has served as chair of two important committees with responsibility for advising the Teacher Preparation Programs at WSU: PEAB (Professional Education Advisory Board) and TEC (Teacher Education Committee). PEAB reports to the State Board of Education and TEC reports to a Council of Deans at WSU. He served as Program Co-Chair of the Washington Science Teachers’ Association Conference at WSU in Pullman, October 2003, and was the exhibits coordinator for the 2005 WSTA/WORD conference in Spokane. He is a member of the HEC Board committee that has been examining entrance requirements of four-year institutions in Washington State. He also is a member of the Teacher Preparation Articulation Task Force organized by the Community and Technical Colleges. The goal of this task force is to increase the number of science and mathematics teachers in our state.