Washington Business Winter 2018 | Washington Business | Page 45

business backgrounder | education & workforce Real Science for Real Science Teachers When PNNL researchers and public school teachers spend the week together, they both benefit. Brian Mittge The scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory spent a week this summer working alongside middle and high school science teachers from around the state to join them in research. The resulting STEM Institute makes science more relevant for teachers and their students — and extends the cutting-edge discoveries of PNNL throughout Washington. At A Glance Middle and high school teachers visited PNNL for a week in August for the STEM Institute. They visited parks and electrical infrastructure sites, working alongside researchers to learn the way science is done at a national laboratory. The AWB Institute collaborated with the PNNL to bring together public school teachers and the publicly funded researchers at the Department of Energy lab in the Tri-Cities. Two important but distinct worlds — sophisticated scientific research and public school science education — came together this summer in a new way that enhances the power of both. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the AWB Institute teamed up in early August to bring middle and high school teachers together with world-class research scientists. The goal was to create a cadre of outstanding science teachers with the content knowledge and teaching skills to serve as leaders and agents of positive change in their local and regional school communities. The weeklong STEM Institute was based at PNNL’s offices in the Tri-Cities. The curriculum included time in the lab and in the field, including trips to Puget Sound Energy’s Wild Horse Wind & Solar Facility near Ellensburg, as well as a detailed plant survey expedition at Horn Rapids Park. It also had a challenge: design a sophisticated green power arrangement for a nearby community, Benton City, that incorporated wind and solar energy in a resilient way. It was a real-world challenge — and a hard one. The goal was to increase educator access to on-the-ground science so teachers could bring that research perspective back into their classrooms. The program focused on two important elements of science literacy: 1) The nature of science; and 2) The cutting-edge science of a national laboratory in context of the Next Generation Science Standards. Teachers who want to participate in the next STEM Institute, or employers who want to help sponsor it, should contact Amy Anderson, director of the AWB Institute, at 360.943.1600 or [email protected]. winter 2018 45