Episode 85 – Christy Jo Geraci – College, High School and Middle School Modeler
In this month’s podcast, Mark talks with CJ, who has taught a wide variety of sciences using modeling methods with students from third grade through high school. They talk about the differences between a middle school and a high school modeling classroom and about the similarities. They talk about making connections and how valuable the support from the modeling community has been when trying to get a lab set up correctly, or trying to figure out any number of issues.
Guest
Christy Jo Geraci
CJ came across modeling instruction while taking graduate courses in education as part of a career pivot to teaching K-12 science after spending the first part of her career in academia, including some research work in a variety of countries around the world. She has taught biology, physics, chemistry, and has used modeling methods with high school, middle school, and even third grade classes.
Highlights
[18:28] CJ: “because we start with the lab in modeling instruction versus doing the lab at the end to confirm what we learned in the textbook, if a student misses a lab or if something in the lab doesn’t go right, then they can feel left out throughout the rest of the process. So having a video of the lab or having an interactive lab or a virtual lab for them to go to if they were absent or if their group’s data didn’t work, that’s really helpful.”
Resources
Download Transcript