In this externship, I worked at the Micron School for Materials Science and College of Engineering, in the research labs and in the office. My goal- to learn what graduate students are working on in the research labs, and explain what they tell me through video content in a much more basic way (for an audience with limited knowledge of Material Science). The informational videos will be used for multiple purposes, including marketing on Youtube, for teachers to show their students across Idaho (college & career readiness), for the legislature and funding, before any lab tours, etc.

According to my host site mentor, they figured a teacher could take complex content and make it more understandable to a general audience, which is why they chose to apply for an extern.

During my 10 weeks, I was able to create a total of 4 different lab videos, about 7-10 minutes each. I also wrote biographies for many of the students and faculty that I talked to, and I saved all of my notes, video scripts, video footage, pictures, etc. for the department to use for any marketing purposes.

I feel very fortunate to have been given this opportunity to work in a college science department for the summer! Science is the area I feel least trained in as an elementary teacher, and the units we teach lack rigor; they are too simple, especially for students who are at an advanced level in their science understanding.

Starting from day 1 observing in the labs, I already was thinking of ways that I could enhance my chemistry unit. I noticed that the experiments graduate students were doing in the labs- materials characterization (observing properties of different materials)- was similar to what I teach in 5th grade; discussing things like what happens to a material if it corrodes, gets shocked, dissolves, etc., just at a more complex level. Seeing the “end result” of what is needed at the college level helps me as a teacher see how important those science units are, and that I do need to put in more effort to make those units more rigorous.

I also learned that there are many career opportunities in Materials Science, however they all require the same soft skills such as the ability to collaborate and communicate. I try to focus on college and career readiness in my 5th grade classroom, which is one reason why I wanted to participate in this externship. Seeing the different career opportunities, from research student to academic advisor, to grant writer, this will help me teach my students more about science fields when we talk about college and career opportunities. I also have the connection now that many of the research students said they would come and do outreach lessons in my classroom.

My mentors at the host site also connected me with a week-long workshop for educators to get hands-on ideas to teach materials science in the classroom. They created a spot for me, even though it was past the sign-up deadline and all spots had already been filled. The workshop is next week, Monday-Friday from 8:00-5:00, and will be led by master professors that have been flown in from universities across the country.

Grade Level and Subject Taught: College level chemistry, biology and engineering