Local teachers get a science boost from CSUMB program

By Mark Muckenfuss

Sandra Varajic was standing at the front of a classroom. 

“Everyone, grab your brain,” she said. “You’re going to be putting a set of cables into your brain and also a motor.”

Varajic, an educational placement coordinator for Cal State Monterey Bay’s College of Education, was not addressing a group of mad scientists. The brain she was referring to was a small computer designed to control the movement of a toy-sized car. And her audience was a group of elementary school teachers.

All were engaged in a session of the Leadership in Science Teaching (LIST) Institute, held July 14-17 on the CSUMB campus. This was the first year of a two-year program funded by a grant from the California State University’s Chancellor’s Office. A second institute is planned for next summer. 

“The goal is to build leadership in science teaching,” said Tess Shirefley, an assistant professor in the Human Development and Family Science department and one of the workshop organizers. 

Elementary school curriculum often doesn’t include dedicated time for science instruction and teachers typically don’t have the necessary resources for delivering such lessons. The idea of the LIST program is to not only help provide some of those resources, but to give teachers ideas about how they can weave science into other lessons, such as math and language arts.

Shirefley said the 30 participating teachers from the local region were chosen, in part, for their eagerness to disseminate science teaching practices to colleagues at their schools, expanding the reach of science learning.

“We’re really trying to build that leadership capacity,” she said, “to promote better, more equitable and more meaningful science instruction.”

Shirefley, Megan Sulsberger, an associate professor in Education and Leadership, and Corin Sloan, an associate professor in the Biology and Chemistry department, are the recipients of the CSU grant. They drew upon CSUMB resources as well as outside agencies to create the institute. On its final day, representatives from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History were on hand to show the participants the resources those agencies could offer. 

Sandra Chavarin, a kindergarten teacher in Salinas, said the workshop left her feeling more comfortable about teaching science, a subject that intimidates her a little. 

“I was having a hard time knowing where to teach science during the day,” she said. “I learned it can be integrated into the curriculum. Just taking students outside, that can be science.”

Tony Balbas, coordinator of instructional support for the San Benito County Office of Education, was on hand for the final day of the workshop and noted that the teachers from his county were there on their own time.

“That shows how passionate they are,” he said. “I’m excited to just see what they’re doing.”

Science scores, Balbas said, will soon be a part of the synopsis of student performance the public sees when they visit a school’s web page. Because of that, he called the workshop “really important.”

There is hope that the connection between the teachers and CSUMB will be ongoing, said Sulsberger. 

“We’re providing the opportunity to collaborate with us on research,” Sulsberger said. “Our hope is that those who are really intrigued will want to join in a research partnership in some way and even recommend it to their colleagues.”

Shirefley said she and her fellow organizers felt the inaugural workshop was a success.

“We felt energized by the enthusiasm of the LIST participants,” she said. “They really showed an interest in expanding their science leadership at their school sites and in their districts. One of our biggest takeaways was recognizing how deeply science is woven into children’s everyday lives. 

“With the connections we’ve made,” she added, “we feel even more strongly that we can leverage students’ natural curiosity and sense of wonder to make science more a part of their everyday experiences.”