Episodios

  • Episode 69 – ReCast – Ray Howanski – “AMTA Past, Present and Future”

    Episode 69 – ReCast – Ray Howanski – “AMTA Past, Present and Future”
    Jun 1 2025
    In this episode, Mark talks with Ray Howanski, CEO of the AMTA. They talk about the origins of AMTA, the big ideas behind modeling instruction, and how the modeling community has changed over time. They talk about the plans that are ahead for AMTA, including a new website and easier ways to connect teachers to one another. They finish with talking about efforts to include data science in the modeling framework and to keep science involved in the larger discussion of data science in education. Guest

    Ray Howanski

    Ray Howanski worked for Ridley School District teaching Chemistry and Biology for 22 years and then as a Curriculum Director for the next 13 years. He worked with their science department to grow modeling instructional practices during which time they inverted the science sequence to offer a Physics - Chemistry - Biology progression. Ray is currently serving as the executive officer for AMTA. Highlights [10:35] Ray Howanski "I think that's really what modeling does. It gives teachers that really foundational piece of resources that they can then go and blossom in each of their teaching environments." [41:52] Ray Howanski "now I can improve my understanding and accept information like evidence-based thinking and the ability to change your mind. Just those things. Learning how to have a face-to-face conversation. And learn from each other. These are things I think that whether you're a science person or not, I think we would all recognize that these are things we want people in our society to be able to do." Resources Download Transcript Ep 69 Transcript Links Get Involved! amtaexec@modelinginstruction.org
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    47 m
  • Episode 68 – Beth Burns – “The Importance of Building Student Community”

    Episode 68 – Beth Burns – “The Importance of Building Student Community”
    May 1 2025
    In this episode, Mark talks with Beth Burns, who is a modeler and modeling workshop leader who teaches chemistry to both high school and college students. They talk about her journey from working in industry to teaching, and to modeling instruction. They talk about how whiteboarding is so importing in modeling instruction as part of giving students autonomy in their own learning. Guest

    Elizabeth Burns

    Elizabeth Burns has been teaching Advanced Placement Chemistry as well as Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) Forensic Science at Fairport High School in western New York State for over 20 years. She is also an adjunct professor of General Chemistry at Nazareth University. She has a BS in Chemistry and an MS in Education. She took her first modeling workshop in 2019 and has been using the Modeling Instruction pedagogy ever since. X | BlueSky Highlights [5:02] Beth Burns "Why do we know what we know and do we just trust or do we do some investigations and kind of create that knowledge as we're learning?" [16:03] Beth Burns "I always tell my students, I'm like, when you go off to college and you go on and get a PhD and you discover a better picture of what the atom looks like, you're gonna come back and tell me what it is, and then I'll teach it to my students." Resources Download Transcript Ep 68 Transcript Links [5:22] Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedhal
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    29 m
  • Episode 67 - Ray Howanski - "AMTA Past, Present and Future"

    Episode 67 - Ray Howanski - "AMTA Past, Present and Future"
    Apr 1 2025
    In this episode, Mark talks with Ray Howanski, CEO of the AMTA. They talk about the origins of AMTA, the big ideas behind modeling instruction, and how the modeling community has changed over time. They talk about the plans that are ahead for AMTA, including a new website and easier ways to connect teachers to one another. They finish with talking about efforts to include data science in the modeling framework and to keep science involved in the larger discussion of data science in education. Guest

    Ray Howanski

    Ray Howanski worked for Ridley School District teaching Chemistry and Biology for 22 years and then as a Curriculum Director for the next 13 years. He worked with their science department to grow modeling instructional practices during which time they inverted the science sequence to offer a Physics - Chemistry - Biology progression. Ray is currently serving as the executive officer for AMTA. Highlights [10:35] Ray Howanski "I think that's really what modeling does. It gives teachers that really foundational piece of resources that they can then go and blossom in each of their teaching environments." [41:52] Ray Howanski "now I can improve my understanding and accept information like evidence-based thinking and the ability to change your mind. Just those things. Learning how to have a face-to-face conversation. And learn from each other. These are things I think that whether you're a science person or not, I think we would all recognize that these are things we want people in our society to be able to do." Resources Download Transcript Ep 67 Transcript Links Get Involved! amtaexec@modelinginstruction.org
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    47 m
  • Episode 66 – Geoff Nunes – “In learning, especially for physics, a key component is soak time”

    Episode 66 – Geoff Nunes – “In learning, especially for physics, a key component is soak time”
    Mar 1 2025
    In this episode, Mark and Geoff talk about how Geoff learned about modeling methods and the various mini-labs he has developed to help illustrate student thinking about new phenomena. They talk about the challenges presented by increasing the number of topics covered in a course without increasing the number of instructional days, necessitating the instructor to determine what can be cut to save time while remaining true to the ideals of modeling. Finally, Geoff describes some of the tools he has published on his website and they ways they can be use. Guest

    Geoff Nunes

    Geoff is in his ninth year teaching at St. Joseph's Prep, an all-boys Jesuit high school in Philadelphia. He came to high school teaching after 15 years in research and development at Dupont, and before that, eight years on the faculty at Dartmouth College. He learned about Modeling Instruction while he was still at Dartmouth, but had to wait until the summer of 2017 to take his first workshop. As a hobby, he maintains a website full of modeling-friendly software for student use, including a graphing program, an electric field simulator, and a video analysis tool. Website Highlights [5:22] Geoff Nunes "It's so important that the lab be accessible to the students and actually correctly show them the physics you're trying to teach them." [7:50] Geoff Nunes: "I'm trying to build as many aha moments into the class as I can." [13:34] Geoff Nunes "nobody can teach anybody anything. People have to teach themselves. And so what you as a teacher have to do is provide the environment in which the students can teach themselves. And that's what modeling does." Resources Download Transcript Ep 66 Transcript Links Nora Gulfa
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    36 m
  • Episode 65 - Cynthia Passmore - "Models Are the Functional Unit of Scientific Thought"

    Episode 65 - Cynthia Passmore - "Models Are the Functional Unit of Scientific Thought"
    Feb 1 2025
    In this episode, Mark talks with Cynthia Passmore, who is a professor of science education at the University of California, Davis. They talk about the differences between the approach to modeling developed at ASU and UC Davis, which seem to be more and more similar as time goes by. They talk about how all of our understanding in scientific study is based on models, even if we do not specifically hold those up as "models" per se. We use mental models to explain the world around us and to better understand how and why certain interactions happen the way they do. They talk about modeling instruction and the Next Generation Science Standards and how modeling really gets students to do the thinking as scientists and make the connections between what we see and the explanations for what we see. They talk about Cynthia's new book, even get to talk about some of Cynthia's recent research on effective teaching using modeling methods in the high school biology classroom. Guest Cynthia Passmore Cynthia Passmore is currently a Professor specializing in science education in the University of California, Davis School of Education. She did her doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and prior to that she was a high school science teacher. Her research focuses on the role of models and modeling in student learning, curriculum design and teacher professional development. She investigates model-based reasoning in a range of contexts and is particularly interested in understanding how the design of learning environments interacts with students’ reasoning practices. She has been the principal investigator of several large grants and is the lead on a collaborative curriculum design project that has created a full-year high school biology course. A key practitioner publication is the edited volume: Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices from NSTA Press. Highlights [2:44] Cynthia "I think the inclusion of modeling as a practice in the next generation Science standards has also brought a lot more people to the work of modeling than used to be the case." [3:25] Cynthia "Models are the functional unit of scientific thought." [7:51] Cynthia "The depiction is important. I'm not trying to say it's not, but if all we're doing is asking kids to reproduce representations and depictions of things, then we're losing the modeling practice, in my view." Resources Download Transcript Ep 65 Transcript Links Modeling Based Biology - Living Earth
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    32 m
  • Episode 64 - Brooke Jenkins - "Developing Concurrent Enrollment for High Schools / Grants for Teacher P.D"

    Episode 64 - Brooke Jenkins - "Developing Concurrent Enrollment for High Schools / Grants for Teacher P.D"
    Jan 1 2025
    In this episode, Mark talks with Brooke Jenkins about her early teaching career, her time at ASU, and then as an adjunct instructor at Estrella Mountain Community College, where she was introduced to modeling instruction. They talk about her work with BYU Idaho, and her move to Utah, where she has helped to develop concurrent enrollment classes for high school students to take the course at their high school while earning college credit at Weber State University. She has been creating professional development for the high school teachers who administer the concurrent enrollment chemistry classes. She uses labs from the modeling materials and walks the high school teachers through how to do each lab in the way that modeling instruction would administer those labs. They talked about a grant she has been able to secure to fund the modeling instruction workshops through state funds, and another grant she is working on to provide stipends for teachers who attend the workshop. Guests Brooke Jenkins Brooke studied Chemistry Education and Physics teaching at Brigham Young University before going to Arizona State University where she earned her Masters in Chemistry. Her research in Chemistry specifically addressed assessment of conceptual understanding in chemistry. She has taught chemistry at the high school, community college and now at the university level. Since 2018 she has taught at Weber State University where she gets to mentor students working towards their licensure and has revamped the concurrent enrollment program. This redesign of the concurrent enrollment curriculum has allowed her to incorporate more modeling ideals into the labs and classroom. Hosting a modeling workshop in Utah has been on her bucket list since moving away from Arizona. She is very excited that this is the year this workshop will become a reality. Highlights [19:19] Brooke Jenkins "we go through an accreditation process to make sure that our concurrent enrollment program is in fact accredited. And one of those things is, you have to make sure that, what we're doing on campus is the same as what they're doing in the high schools, and that includes professional development for our teachers that are doing the program." [24:26] Brooke Jenkins "the way it works here in Utah is you get your license and then you get endorsed in different areas that you can teach in. And if a teacher is working towards an endorsement, then they can have their tuition covered for taking that class." [30:51] Brooke Jenkins "So if there's something in your state that can happen for your teachers, trying to figure out that incentive system may be a really big part to making your workshop successful." Resources Download Transcript Ep 64 Transcript Links Modeling Instruction Website
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    36 m
  • Episode 63 – ReCast – Kathy Harper – “Ohio State University, Modeling and Engineering”

    Episode 63 – ReCast – Kathy Harper – “Ohio State University, Modeling and Engineering”
    Dec 1 2024
    In this episode, Mark talks with Kathy Harper, a senior lecturer in engineering education at The Ohio State University. She tells us about how she found her way to a modeling workshop half her lifetime ago, and how modeling has changed her life. They also talk about the work that Kathy has done bringing modeling workshops to Ohio, and then having workshops to develop small activities to bring tastes of engineering to our science courses. We hope you enjoy listening! Guest Bios Kathy Harper Kathy Harper is a senior lecturer in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University, teaching in the Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors program. Her involvement with Modeling Instruction began in 1995. She has directed dozens of workshops for Ohio science teachers in Modeling Instruction, piloting the first workshops to incorporate engineering content into the Modeling framework. Her research includes an array of educational topics, but most recently centers on assessing classroom-level innovations. She has made conference and workshop presentations on topics such as problem solving, cooperative learning, reflective journaling, first-year engineering courses, and, of course, Modeling. Facebook Highlights [26:05] Kathy Harper, talking about starting to develop engineering content using a modeling framework "what if we offer a one-week workshop for people that have already taken a modeling workshop to come in and we'll just work through ways that we can add engineering into an existing modeling curriculum. ...But one of the things I really remember was one teacher said "My advanced students are usually debating between a career in medicine or a career in engineering. And they all feel like they understand what medicine is. And so I think they're more likely to choose that, but they don't really understand what engineering is." ...So we worked then as a group to think about some activities that we could add, just to introduce students to engineering design that were largely independent of content." [40:01] Kathy Harper, talking about funding for modeling workshops and state funding for professional development "we need to do something to get those mechanisms back in place so that we can support these state-level, or at least, you know, portion of state-level workshops, where again, like-minded teachers can get together, talk about the content and the pedagogy. Where we can teach these workshops for the people who teach these workshops are real K-12 classroom teachers. Not university people like me; people that teach in very similar circumstances to the people attending the workshops. Those are key." Resources Transcript Ep 63 Transcript
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    49 m
  • Episode 62 - Phil Root - "Modeling at the College Level and Advanced Workshops"

    Episode 62 - Phil Root - "Modeling at the College Level and Advanced Workshops"
    Nov 1 2024
    This week, Mark talks with Phil Root about the differences he sees between teaching using modeling methodology at the high school level and the college level. They talk about Phil's experience helping to adapt modeling materials for physical science to the Next Generation Science Standards, and how much he enjoyed building a storyline for those units. They talk about the advanced modeling workshops, including the new materials Phil helped to develop for them, and the various topics covered. They finish with Phil's advice for folks just starting out on a modeling instruction journey. Guests Phil Root Phil Root taught high school chemistry and physics at Chandler High School from 2004-2013, and has been teaching chemistry at Scottsdale Community College since 2013. Phil teaches using modeling methods at the college level, and also leads modeling workshops. He helped to develop the physical science curriculum for Next Generation Science Standards and worked with Levi Torrison to develop a thermodynamics modeling workshop and extend the Chem 2 workshop to a full three week course. Website Highlights [11:05] Phil Root: "AMTA was actively engaging students before it was cool." [17:08] Phil Root, on advanced modeling workshops: "you will have activities, labs, facilitation experience that you can take with you directly back to your classroom the next year and put it to place right away to build your storyline in your classroom and make it stronger." [19:13] Phil Root: "My goal now isn't to get my students to solve a problem a certain way or to get an answer. It's to probe their thinking about the relationships that they're using or how are they making sense of the mathematical relationships they're using or the conceptual frameworks that they're building." Resources Download Transcript Ep 62 Transcript
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    33 m
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