National Science Foundation ATE Grant
ATE Leader Summer Externship Summary Report
ATE Leader: Linda Navitsky, Tunxis Community College, Farmington, CT
Externship: Connecticut State Department of Health
ATE teacher leaders participating in summer externships as part of the
National Science Foundation ATE grant created work-based projects as a
result of their experience. The following information summarizes what
they gained from the externship and what their students gained from the
subsequent curriculum projects.
What was the most useful learning component of your externship?
Becoming familiar with the work of the microbiology lab at the State Department of Health was the most useful learning component of my externship. In class I always talk about the theory that is behind the work done at this facility, but I have not had an opportunity to see the real work done for many years. Techniques have changed considerably since I was in college and many of them I had never seen before. The most useful learning was being able to put the techniques together with the theory.
What was the most challenging component of your externship?
Talking about something or describing it is very different than doing it! A teacher describes the theory behind science, and, in our labs, we teach a very limited number of procedures. I had a different focus from the practical science procedures that is the bread-and-butter of the operation of this laboratory. Much of the work was more repetitious than I am used to, but, again, that is the work that must be done at this lab.
Did the implementation of your curriculum plan meet your expectations?
Please elaborate.
Yes—as a matter of fact my curriculum plan far exceeded my expectations. I did an experiment which is done at the food lab, with a few minor alterations. It took me several months to refine it and rewrite the protocol so that introductory microbiology students could do it. The more I wrote, the more I found out that there were many new ideas that my students were able to practice.
- They learned to do serial dilutions, and plate counts, using a new piece of equipment at the lab.
- They learned to use the new micropipettes, another new piece of equipment that we just purchased.
- By plating out food contaminants on a selective agar, they were exposed to a method of bacterial isolation which we had talked about in one of our chapters.
- They performed two biochemical tests on the isolate they grew. These two tests fit into two chapters which had been covered in the past, and tied into them very nicely.
Did the externship host assist you with the implementation of
your curriculum plan? Please elaborate.
Yes. My externship host was Mr. Robert Howard, who is the manager of the lab, but he placed me in the care of two principal microbiologists, Stacey Kinney and Mona Mandour. After I had my first draft I was in contact with Stacey via email about my ideas. She reviewed my first set of directions and made suggestions which I incorporated into later drafts. She also gave me ideas on where to purchase the reagents, which actually turned out to be much more expensive that I had planned on. She was instrumental in letting me use expired media, which could not be used in the lab, but was just perfect for use in the classroom.
What impact did your work-based curriculum have on your students’
learning and motivation?
The students liked using the new equipment to perform the labs. I overheard one saying to another “This pipette is just like the ones they use on CSI”. Everyone participated enthusiastically in the lab experiment. I asked them to do a lab report which will be included in their lab notebooks. I also asked them to do an additional paper for suggestions and comments on this experiment, but I will not get to see those until the end of the semester.
What have you done to share your externship experience wand subsequent
curriculum work with your peers?
I have reported on my summer experience at science department meetings. I have written an article for our campus newsletter “In and Around Tunxis” which details my summer experience. I have also shared the success of my curriculum project with my mentors/partners at the State Health Labs.
What are your specific plans for sustaining this kind of externship
activity in your school?
Because I did my externship at a facility which my class visits each semester there is already a relationship between that facility and my school. In addition to the curriculum work my class visits this lab each semester. The best part of this is that now I have a source to go to about special media problems. Selecting media for microbiology experiments can be very difficult, and now I have knowledge of where the media experts can be found.
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