High School Science Teachers - Research?

Parents Forum
6

<p>There are two areas of science I know of that dedicated amateurs make regular and even important contributions: paleontology and astronomy. Those are also good areas to generate interest in high school students. Paleontology extends to study of geology and biology.</p>

<p>I will tell you about a private HS that my daughter went to because she did do research there with a teacher. But he wasn’t really a teacher so much as the Director of the Alf Museum of Paleontology that is part of the school. Students who attend are introduced to paleontology fieldwork, lab work, research as part of the science program. Several teachers are involved in that. The Director, who holds a PhD both works with students and does research; they have a 2nd PhD in house doing research now. He also teaches a paleontology elective and an independent study elective. Advanced students attend professional conferences and have had some papers published.</p>

<p>This program started in the 1930’s when a biology teacher took his students out to a desert area and they discovered a new species of fossil pig. This inspired the bio teacher to delve into paleontology and the expeditions continued until eventually they built a museum that now holds over 70,000 specimens that students, faculty and friends have collected. Over the years students have been exposed to research and discovery and inspired many students to go into sciences, including a student who went on to be a remarkable paleontologist.
<a href=“http://research.amnh.org/paleontology/f/Malcolm_McKenna.pdf”>http://research.amnh.org/paleontology/f/Malcolm_McKenna.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>So I just though you might be interested this story so you can see what can be done by a teacher.
<a href=“Raymond Alf; Teacher at Webb Schools, Founder of Paleontology Museum”>http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/02/news/mn-17787&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I know this school also has certain resources and were able to gather donations over time to make this all happen but they didn’t start out with any special equipment. They have some now and the school also has a small observatory with a powerful telescope, scanning electron microscope–resources that are not very common in high schools. Trying to do things with public school resources would be a challenge.</p>

<p>Student clubs could be involved in citizen science projects:
<a href=“http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/internet/List_of_Citizen-Science_Projects.html”>http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/internet/List_of_Citizen-Science_Projects.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;