2007 ORAU Annual Report - Oak Ridge Associated Universities

Houston Teacher
Ready for New Science
Curriculum Thanks
to Summer Research
Experience
Houston area ninth-grade teacher Destiny Evans
brought world-class scientific research experience back
to school with her during the fall of 2007. Evans, a
seven-year teaching veteran who is serving her first year
as a science specialist for Houston’s ninth-grade centers,
spent her second consecutive summer conducting
research at ORNL through the DOE Academies Creating
Teacher Scientists (ACTS) program.
Evans faces exciting challenges this year as she
acclimates to her new role in the ninth-grade centers
and works alongside teachers to implement conceptual
physics for the first time in the school district. Along with
her new responsibilities, Evans will be managing the
inquiry-based curriculum of the district’s new physics
courses, which will have students learning by in-class
experiments as they try to answer tough questions
concerning the laws of physics.
This trial-and-error, learn-as-you-go structure is
something Evans has experience with thanks to
ACTS. She spent her time at ORNL taking this same
approach in her research. Working in the lab’s Chemical
Sciences Division, Evans’ inquiry-based research had
her synthesizing nanoparticles and learning how
to manipulate the size, structure, and shape of the
microscopic particles.
“I have always enjoyed scientific research,” says Evans.
“But upon entering the classroom it seemed that the
focus became the pedagogy and not the science. As
a science teacher, ACTS is an opportunity to fulfill the
research need in my life.”
And filling the research need in her life has allowed
Evans to fill the needs of her students. Noting that her
experience with ACTS has allowed her to feel more
comfortable working on inquiry-based assignments in
her classes, Evans has been able to better encourage
and guide her students with science projects, some of
which have gone on to compete in regional science
fairs. Beyond building her research resume, ACTS, which
is administered by ORISE for DOE, has allowed Evans to
apply for and obtain mini-grants for classroom supplies
and professional development while collaborating with
like-minded teachers.
“Teaching is the most difficult responsibility and yet the
most rewarding,” says Evans. “It’s so similar to research
in that both involve delayed gratification. In life, we’re
constantly seeking answers and that is what research is
all about. We seek answers to questions and conduct
research to answer the new questions that arise.”
Image Information
Ninth-grade science teacher Destiny Evans is using her
summer research experiences at ORNL to guide the
implementation of an inquiry-based physics curriculum in her
Houston, Texas, school district.
Earthquake Engineering
Collaboration
ORAU shook things up this year by branching into
the arena of earthquake engineering education and
research after teaming up with NEES Consortium, Inc.
(NEESinc). NEESinc is a nonprofit corporation that
manages, operates, and maintains the George E. Brown,
Jr., Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation
(NEES) consortium, a national, shared-use research
network for the earthquake engineering community.
The ORAU-NEES partnership agreement establishes a
framework for the launch of mutually beneficial activities
in research, education, outreach, and innovation that
directly support each organization’s strategic mission,
including the overarching goal of increasing the
number, quality, and diversity of K-16 students in STEM
disciplines to preserve the competitiveness of the
U.S. workforce.
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