コンピューターを頻繁に使うこの研修会では、各地から集まったさまざまな年齢の高校教員たちが2人一組で作業を行なっている
The teachers arrive
For the past couple of months, I have been helping plan a summer workshop for high-school teachers. Now, the teachers have arrived and the two-week workshop has begun. The focus of the workshop is computer simulations of molecules, and I've been helping with the scientific planning. This has been quite challenging. My colleagues and I continued to edit the problems and solutions until right before the workshop began.
Many other people have been involved in the planning, including education professors, high-school teachers, computer support staff, administrative assistants and graduate students.
It takes an amazing amount of work to run such a workshop. Even after the workshop began, we were scrambling to make photocopies of this or that. There is a lot of important information to distribute: lecture lists, staff lists, lists of participants, maps, list of local restaurants and local events. On the day before the workshop, one of the physics professors and I were still busily inserting information into large binders. It's not a glamorous task, but somebody had to do it.
This workshop is a serious event involving a great deal of planning and a great deal of money. It can't be merely interesting or fun. The teachers are being paid a stipend for attending, and they also get graduate school credits to further their career. It is expected — or hoped — that the high-school teachers apply what they learn to their own classroom teaching.
We know that computer simulations can't replace real-life experiments, so we've planned a lot of "wet labs" (actual experiments) in addition to computer work. Hopefully, we have been able to show that simulations can make the wet labs easier to understand. In any case, it's fun to manipulate real flasks and thermometers and liquid nitrogen once in a while.
The high-school teachers also attend seminars on pedagogy by education professors and seminars on research by science professors. At the end of the day, the high-school teachers type their feedback and thoughts onto an online discussion board. The schedule is tightly packed from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day.
My colleagues and I have been doing our best to fill every session with useful content, but sometimes the task seems overwhelming. The manager of the group then tells us to relax. He says the teachers are thrilled to be here. Indeed, judging by the looks on the teachers' faces, I can tell that most of them are actually happy to be at this workshop. It's probably impossible for them to absorb all of the classroom information since we are covering so much material in such a short period of time, but they know they can always go back and review the material we've given them.
I suppose it's fair to say that the teachers are here to do a bit of schoolwork, a bit of networking and a bit of sightseeing. They have the evenings and weekends free, and they seem to have been enjoying themselves. I myself have enjoyed getting to know them during off hours. I know that they have been planning their own get-togethers and events, and I've even been invited to one of their parties.
There is a wide range of ages among the teachers, from 23 years old to over 60 years old. There is also a wide range of teaching experience: Some teachers teach in poor rural areas, others at inner-city schools, and others in affluent suburbs. Some of them have worked as engineers or bankers before switching to teaching.
I've been surprised that most of them seem to get along with each other quite well in spite of this. It's probably because they have a common commitment to teaching science to high-school students, and a common sense of adventure. They want to learn something new to incorporate into their teaching.
For the time being, I'm pleased with how the workshop has been progressing. I can't let go of my breath yet, though. After this two-week workshop is over, these high-school teachers will leave, but a new crop of teachers will be coming a week later. We are sponsoring the same workshop twice this summer. I'm confident the second session will run more smoothly, based on our experiences with the first session, but there is still a lot of work to do.
Shukan ST: July 19, 2002
(C) All rights reserved
- computer simulations
- コンピューター上での模擬実験
- molecules
- 分子
- scientific planning
- 科学的な面での準備
- challenging
- やりがいのある
- colleagues
- 同僚
- edit
- まとめる
- have been involved in 〜
- 〜にかかわってきた
- education professors
- 教育学の教授
- administrative assistants
- 管理職員
- graduate students
- 大学院生
- amazing
- 驚くような
- run 〜
- 〜を運営する
- were scrambling to 〜
- 慌てて〜していた
- make photocopies of 〜
- 〜のコピーを取る
- distribute
- 渡す
- participants
- 参加者
- physics
- 物理学
- (were)busily inserting 〜 into 〜
- せかせかと〜を〜に入れていた
- glamorous task
- 華やかな仕事
- It can't be merely 〜
- 単に〜では済まされない
- are being paid a stipend
- 給付金をもらっている
- credits
- 単位
- further
- 発展させる
- apply 〜 to 〜
- 〜を〜に応用する
- replace 〜
- 〜に代わる
- real-life experiments
- 本物の実験
- wet labs
- (=laboratories)実地の実験
- actual
- 実際の
- in addition to 〜
- 〜に加えて
- Hopefully
- できれば
- In any case
- いずれにせよ
- manipulate
- 操る
- flasks
- フラスコ
- thermometers
- 温度計
- liquid nitrogen
- 液体ちっ素
- once in a while
- たまには
- pedagogy
- 教授法
- type their feedback and thoughts onto 〜
- 感想や考えを〜に入力する
- online discussion board
- インターネット上の掲示板
- is tightly packed
- みっちり詰まっている
- fill 〜 with 〜
- 〜を〜で満たす
- session
- 講座
- overwhelming
- 多すぎる
- are thrilled to be here
- ワクワクしている
- absorb
- 理解する
- are covering 〜
- 〜を網羅している
- material
- 教材
- review
- 復習する
- schoolwork
- 勉強
- networking
- ネットワーク作り
- sightseeing
- 観光
- getting to know
- 知り合うこと
- during off hours
- クラスの外で
- get-togethers
- 懇親会
- There is a wide range of 〜
- 〜が幅広い
- rural
- 田舎の
- inner-city
- 大都市中心部の
- affluent suburbs
- 裕福な郊外
- bankers
- 銀行員
- switching to 〜
- 〜に転職する
- get along
- 仲良くする
- commitment
- 思い入れ
- sense
- 感覚
- incorporate into 〜
- 〜に取り入れる
- For the time being
- しばらくの間
- how 〜 has been progressing
- 〜の進行状況
- let go of my breath
- 息を抜く
- crop of 〜
- 〜の一団
- based on 〜
- 〜を生かして
|