July 29, 2002

Electronic newsroom

02-60

Future Teachers Learn Science at Brookhaven Lab

UPTON, NY — Doing science to teach science, eleven college students and recent college graduates from as far away as Puerto Rico and California are spending the summer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory learning about science firsthand from Laboratory researchers.

All of the students plan to be science teachers, and they are honing their skills in a pre-service teacher program at Brookhaven sponsored by DOE. The science, mathematics and technology teachers-in-training are each paired with a Brookhaven scientist-mentor who specializes in the student’s field of study, such as physics, environmental research, or chemistry.

At Brookhaven, the future teachers become familiar with the skills and knowledge required of scientists and participate in a research project. At the end of their internship, the student teachers are required to complete an education module, and a research paper or a poster presentation based on their work at the Laboratory. They are aided by a master teacher at Brookhaven, Anthony Abbate, who is a high school science teacher in Amityville High School during the school term.

The students in the program are: (seated, from left) Javier Perez Irizarry and David Figueroa Hernandez, (front row, from left) Roseangely Pinto Rodriguez and Barbara Melendez Sanchez, (back row, from left) Charis Walker, Lizbeth Troche Flores, Debbie Sims, Yuleska Burgos Aponte, Lisa Polanski, Jeannette Santos Rentas, and Jahaira Rivera Cabrera. All are students or graduates of the University of Puerto Rico, except for Walker, from Saint Augustine’s College, Raleigh, North Carolina; Sims from California State University, Northridge; and Polanski, from Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York.  Download 300 dpi hi-res jpg.