Botany 2005 - Scientific Meeting


Learning From Plants
Austin, Texas
August 13 - 17, 2005
Forum Keynote Speaker
     
 

 

 

 

Barbara Schulz

The National Academies
Teacher Advisory Council - Center for Education

"Is it cool to know and do science? Can we create a Scientific Temper? Linking Scientists, College Faculty, K-12 Teachers and their Students in Collaborative Research."

 

Barbara Schulz is a Teacher Leader with the National Academy in the Center for Education and is leading the development and operation of the Teacher Advisory Council.

She brings a wealth of experience to her work with the Academies. With a Bachelors degree from the University of Illinois, and a Masters degree in Secondary Science Education from the University of Washington, Barbara has a long-standing love for teaching and working with young people. For 35 years, she taught Biology, Advanced Placement Biology, Environmental Science and many other classes to students in the 7th through 12th grades. Her experience spans public and private schools, middle and high schools and outreach programs in the Seattle area. She holds a K-12 lifelong teaching certificate and a Secondary Principal Certification in Washington State. She has served as High School Division Director for the National Science Teachers Association, President of Washington Science Teachers Association and President of the National Association of Biology Teachers.

Barbara has a record of leadership in education. As President of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), she collaborated with Genentech, Inc. to support the professional development program and web site called Access Excellence (AE). As a strong advocate for educational outreach, Barbara networked with many scientific societies and was an invited presenter at many national meetings to talk about making connections between science teachers and scientists. By acknowledging cultural similarities and differences, she assisted others in making significant connections with educational professionals who work with K-12 students. In this capacity she was instrumental in establishing a schoolyard Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) collaboration with the nationally funded LTER program.

A firm believer in research experiences for her students, Barbara established a program called Shoreline Laboratory and Invention Convention where students from the entire school district could engage in science contests, present posters of their research and display inventions.

Not to be left out of the research experiences, Barbara is the recipient of several research fellowship awards and spent time at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, during several summers, studying lamp-brush chromosome structure in chickens. She then received a fellowship award to join a research team in the McMurdo Dry Valley Mountains of Antarctica to conduct environmental research projects in the most pristine environment on the planet. During this research and subsequent trips to Antarctica, she maintained journal entries and engaged students in research questions via the web.

As a result of her research fellowship awards, Barbara quickly recognized the value of connecting practicing teachers with the scientific research community. With her mentor scientist, Dr. Nancy Hutchison, she developed a professional development program for teachers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) in Seattle called Science Education Partnership. This can be viewed on the web at the following site www.fhcrc.org/education This program has been operating for more than 10 years and is supported in part by Howard Hughes grants.

As more biology teachers in the Seattle area became connected to the scientific community, it became clear that there was a need for research experiences for young people. When given an opportunity, Barbara started a research lab for kids, BioLab, where young people with similar interest could come together, meet in research teams and conduct their own research projects. BioLab was housed at FHCRC, operated for two years and was temporarily closed due to the downturn in the economy.

She was recently Acting Associate Director of HutchLab; an educational outreach program offered at FHCRC where high school aged young people can come together in the research lab and spend a week of intensive science investigation during the summers and where teachers can bring classes for a one-day workshop during the academic school year.

Barbara has been honored with several awards including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics, The Outstanding Biology Teacher award and the Tandy Technology Scholar Award. She was recently a collaborating member of a scientific team researching ecological systems and doing the educational outreach for that team.

With a passion for teaching young people, working with teachers and for collaborating with the research community, Barbara brings an intense energy to establishing the Teacher Advisory Council in the Center for Education where she is currently employed.

     

Questions About Botany Meetings should be directed to: BSA Meetings Manager:
Johanne Stogran
Botanical Society of America Meetings Office
2813 Blossom Ave
Columbus, OH 43231
Tele: (614) 899-9356 - Fax: (614) 895-7866 - E-mail: johanne@botany.org
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