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2022 Introduction to Modeling Instruction in Biology, with Rachel Kent and Jessica Wagenmaker.

Course Description:
This course will focus on the role of models and Modeling in learning as it relates to teaching Biology in both formal and informal contexts. Fundamental theories of thinking and learning will be reviewed, and the latest theoretical trends will be examined. A firm understanding of characteristics of life, classification, populations, and evolution will be our vehicle to experiencing the Modeling methodology. We will examine and define conceptual models, modeling, and Modeling Instruction, as well as experience what it is like from the perspective of both the teacher and student.  We will also discuss and evaluate how Modeling courses are aligned with NGSS and help create a coherent story for biology in high school science.

Dates: July 6-21, 2022
Meeting times:
Week 1: July 6 11:30-5:00 pm EDT, July 7-8 11:30-4:00 pm EDT,
Week 2: July 11-14 11:30-4:00 pm EDT ;
Week 3: July 18-21 11:30-4:00 pm EDT
Leaders: Rachel Kent (MI) and Jessica Wagenmaker (MI)
Costs: $775 includes one-year AMTA membership
Graduate level credits: $79 per credit through the University of Pacific 
Location: Zoom

Meet the leaders:

Rachel Kent has been a teacher in Michigan for 23 years, spending two years in elementary education before moving to middle school science. She has taught at Fruitport Middle School for the last 18 years, teaching both 8th-grade and 6th-grade science. She has been using modeling in her science instruction since 2015 and became a facilitator for AMTA in 2017. 
Rachel has been an instructor for their local hub for the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative, instructing teacher workshops on how to engage classroom instruction through inquiry outdoor-task-based instruction in their communities to protect the Great Lakes Region. She spent a couple years in her early career as a teacher instructor for the educational outreach program at the Annis Water Resource Institute for Grand Valley State University. While there, she was a part of assisting Dr. Janet Vail in writing the Michigan Air Quality Curriculum. Since then, she was videotaped for the PBS Learning media, teaching these lessons to a group of students for others to access. She also takes her current students out on GVSU’s research vessels yearly for the past 15 years to learn about lake ecology in the Great Lakes Region. Eleven years ago, her students took the initiative to further their understanding of some local pollution and submitted a project to the Lexus Eco Challenge where they were awarded first-round recognition. Rachel is passionate about science education and has been nominated in the past for the National Science Teacher of the Year award and just this past year for the Michigan Teacher of the Year award. 
On a personal level Rachel enjoys raising her two young children. She coaches both high school basketball and track as well as focusing on her personal fitness and nutrition daily. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, canning, fishing, camping, scuba diving and anything to do with the greater outdoors. 

Jessica Wagenmaker