The students worked rapidly, all sporting plastic lab goggles and adjusting cornflower blue safety gloves. Many transferred liquid with pipettes, while others labeled Petri dishes. At the end of the lab, where they were to perform a bacterial transformation, they cleaned up their messes and went to lunch.
The funny thing about these students is that they’re all more accustomed to being on the other side of the desk.
Twenty-eight teachers from Washington state and three international teachers are participants in this year’s Science Education Partnership, sponsored by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From July 14 through 30, they will be working in labs and classrooms with research scientists and Lead Teachers as a two-week kickoff to their ongoing relationship with SEP.
“Our whole goal really is for every teacher to move forward in their learning, their experience, their ability,” said co-founder and current program director Dr. Nancy Hutchison, Ph.D.
Founded in 1991, SEP executes its objective by updating teachers on the newest lab equipment and techniques, providing opportunities for them to compare notes and later bring new skills and technology to their students.
The most coveted pieces of technology SEP loans out are lab kits, some of which cost $10,000. Access to kits was a huge motivation for Tyrell Hardtke, a teacher at Eastlake High School, to apply for the program.
“Eastlake High School doesn’t have the biotechnology equipment for kids to do the most cutting-edge research,” Hardtke said. “(The labs are) going to be for my 10th-grade biology classes, just to make the curriculum a little more difficult.”
But Hardtke is enjoying the many other perks SEP presents, such as the opportunity to network.
“I’ve met a lot of good teachers who have a lot of really good tips for me,” she said. “This is only my third year, so I take in everything that I can while I’m here.”
Lara Hollingworth, another science teacher from Eastlake, also said she liked learning from new colleagues.
“I’d like to have a better knowledge of what goes on in laboratories like at University of Washington, and just network with different teachers who have been teaching science for a long time and learn what they do,” Hollingworth said.“
For the first few days, that is exactly what the SEP teachers did. They were in a classroom setting, learning labs and talking with fellow educators. The next phase, which ended Wednesday, was personal lab time with mentors at different labs in the Seattle area.
Faith Medley, a teacher at Issaquah High School, worked with a researcher focusing on a global issue.
“He’s doing HIV research, so his whole plan is to try to find a vaccination for the HIV virus,” Medley said. “It’s so much fun, being a science teacher and being able to be in the lab and around so many scientific minds.”
Hutchison said the researchers enjoy it, too.
“For many of them, there is a sense of giving back, or some people call it paying it forward,” she said. “We would like to have kids who are interested and knowledgeable about science, and the most effective way to do that is through science teachers.”
She added that most researchers she’s talked to have had a teacher who’s inspired them, which really demonstrates the effect educators can have on kids.
“They’re a real catalyst, if you will, because every teacher has maybe 125 students a year, and then a teacher teaches over multiple years,” Hutchison said.
So, through the 368 teachers who’ve been through the SEP program, an estimated 14,000 students have reaped the benefits of better technology and higher-quality education. The kits and lab ideas teachers become familiar with during their time at Fred Hutchinson are kept current — that’s one of Hutchison’s priorities.
“We change it a little bit every year,” she said. “We always tweak to try to make sure that we are staying relevant.”
And they make sure not to skimp on the best for their teachers.
“It is research lab equipment. We don’t buy the kids’ version or anything,” Hutchison added.
After a few more days to iron out new curriculum ideas and share what they’ve learned in a final open house, the teachers will break until September, when they meet again to share a meal and sign up for loaner kits.
Hutchison emphasized that SEP’s relationship with the teachers is ongoing, and will continue through the rest of their careers.
“Learning usually takes some time, and you need a chance to process it. … You grow as you get a chance to kind of move through the steps,” she said. “We want to be here to support that whole process.”
