Virginia Commonwealth University sponsors convention for 2,000 science teachers in 13 southeastern states

By Anne Buckley

Virginia Commonwealth University faculty and resources will be on hand when science teachers from 13 southeastern states arrive in Richmond Dec. 2 for the National Science Teachers Association regional convention.

About 2,000 elementary, middle and high-school teachers are expected to attend the event at the Richmond Convention Center, which will feature more than 250 hands-on workshops, presentations, sessions, and short courses on timely topics and issues, including science and literacy, forensic science, assessment, technology and safety.

VCU and VCU Life Sciences are major sponsors of the event and will provide one of the guest speakers and three of the short courses.

“This is an excellent opportunity for us to highlight the tremendous work in the sciences that goes on at VCU,” said Jackie T. McDonnough, Ph.D., assistant professor of science education in VCU’s School of Education. “Learning how to engage students in the study of science is one of the most important things we can do to prepare them for the future.

“If teachers can ignite a spark in a student that sets off a passion for learning about science, the possibilities for that student are virtually limitless,” she said. “It takes one good teacher to do that.”

McDonnough will be co-teaching one of the short courses, “Teacher as Ringleader: Using Science Circuses to Teach Sound Concepts.” In addition, Luiz Shozo Ozaki of VCU’s Bioinformatics Computational Core Laboratories, which is part of the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, will teach a short course on how scientists apply math and computer sklills to study DNA amplification and sequencing.

Another short course available to the teachers includes a trip to VCU’s Rice Center for the Environmental Sciences, where teachers can view the 343-acre living laboratory on the James River to learn about aquatic ecology.

Graduate credit is available for conference attendance, McDonnough said. Richard J. Rezba, director of VCU Life Sciences’ Center for Life Sciences Education, will be one of the featured speakers, talking about “Debunking Disney’s First Law – Wishing Will Make It So.”

Also speaking at the convention will be Marcella Fierro, M.D., chief medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia and professor and chair of the Department of Legal Medicine at VCU.

Fierro, who oversees the medical examiner investigation of all violent, suspicious and unnatural deaths in Virginia, will speak to teachers about “Preparing for Forensic Science and Medicine of the Future.”

VCU Life Sciences will also have two booths at the convention to showcase its “Secrets of the Sequence” video series available to download free for science teachers around the country.

NSTA is the largest professional organization in the world committed to promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning. NSTA’s current membership includes more than 55,000 science teachers, science supervisors, administrators, business and industry representatives, scientists, and others involved in science education.