HOW A GEOSCIENTIST INVADED MY 8TH GRADE CLASSROOM

This poster presents the benefits of having a scientist within a secondary classroom. As a secondary teacher and department chair, it is my responsibility to ensure our students are prepared to take further science classes in high school. As an educator, it was very exciting to see the difference in the student's performance and goals from having a scientist available to them in the classroom. Most students feel that science as a career is out of reach, or “done by a bunch of Albert Einstein's”. Now they feel more confident in their abilities, and some have a genuine interest in a science career. They also have a better understanding of what science is and what a scientist does. Working together to teach science as an educator-scientist partnership has formed a great collaboration that will continue to benefit my classroom.