A classroom can be a lonely place. Not for students, for teachers. But for eight Oklahoma science teachers, this summer has been anything but solitary.
These eight educators were selected to participate in the Foundation Scholar Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. So for the last month, they have bonded as colleagues while learning classic research fundamentals and instructional methods in OMRF’s labs.
“The concepts we explore are classic and timeless,” said Dr. Timothy Mather, the Foundation Scholars’ mentor. “And by using common tools like potatoes or yeast to illustrate them, teachers can easily and inexpensively introduce these experiments to their students.”
“This experience will equip me to apply techniques used in real research in my classroom,” said Hydro-Eakly teacher Cynthia Moen. “I will go back to school this fall infused with excitement and able to give my students a better laboratory experience.”
Now in its 20th year, OMRF’s Foundation Scholar Program offers Oklahoma high school and middle school science teachers the chance to hone their research and teaching skills in OMRF’s labs under the guidance of an experienced scientist. In the process, networks and friendships with fellow teachers emerge.
“We are learning far more as a group than we ever could as individuals,” Andrea Acre, an Elk City teacher, said. “We’ve been allowed to experience what our students should experience in our classrooms. I never expected to gain all of the ideas that I have. This has been the best program I have attended.”
The 2007 OMRF Foundation Scholars are: Andrea Acre, Elk City High School; Amy Bymaster, Amber-Pocasset High School; Karen Jennings, El Reno High School; Jennifer Lynch, New John Marshall High School; Cynthia Moen, Hydro-Eakly High School; Michelle Shelite, Mayfield Middle School (Putnam City); Karleta Wheat, Milburn Public School; and Julieta Zesiger, Casady School (Oklahoma City).
Information about OMRF’s Foundation Scholar Program is available at: http://omrf.org/OMRF/Education.
About OMRF:
Chartered in 1946, OMRF www.omrf.org) is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and developing more effective treatments for human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. OMRF’s scientists, who include a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, hold more than 500 U.S. and international patents.
