Episode 08 – Christi Mendoza & George Nelson – “Modeling in the Middle Schools”
In this conversation, Christi Medoza and George Nelson talk about modeling at the middle school level. They talk about the challenges some teachers see in the variety of topics covered in middle school science, but the wonderful way that modeling instruction lets us adjust the way things are done in class, and let the students…
View Show NotesEpisode 07 – Tanea Hibler & Ariel Serkin – “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”
In this episode, Mark talks with Ariel Serkin and Tanea Hibler, modelers who are passionate about building equity and dismantling racism in the classroom. They share reasons that they are passionate about the work and talk about big things and little things they do in their classrooms to increase representation for all of their students,…
View Show NotesEpisode 06 – Raymond Howanski – “The importance of developing community”
In this episode, we hear from Raymond Howanski from outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He talks about the reasons his district changed the order of their science classes to begin with physics before progressing to chemistry and finally biology. He talks about the additional topics they can cover in a biology course when students already understand the…
View Show NotesEpisode 05 – Erica Posthuma – “Students learn better from teachers who care”
In this conversation with Erica Posthuma, we hear about her experience of going through her first modeling workshop and the “aha” moments that she experienced. Erica talks about how modeling instruction makes chemistry accessible to even students who do not perceive themselves as strong math students. She talks about how modeling instruction units align well…
View Show NotesEpisode 04 – Brenda Royce – “The goal is to promote understanding”
In this conversation with Brenda Royce, we hear about the things she learned while going through two summer workshops in modeling instruction and then teaching physics and later chemistry using modeling methods. Brenda talks about becoming aware of student misconceptions as well as learning to help students think through the observations they are making. Finally,…
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