Teacher Partners in the PIS@WSU Program spend ~8 weeks full time each summer over two consecutive years engaging in research activities with a WSU faculty member in their lab. These activities could include field work and laboratory experiments, data collection and compilation, quantitative analysis and interpretation of results, and communicating findings to research peers. Throughout the two summers, Teacher Partners will be immersed in the day-to-day operation of an active academic research group, ranging from formal discussions during lab meetings and/or reading groups to informal conversations among like-minded colleagues.
In addition to the two summers of research, Teacher Partners will participate in two conferences each year hosted by the Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR. The January “Research Symposium” brings Partners in Science (PIS) teachers and mentors together from around the Pacific Northwest to share research findings through poster and oral presentations. The August “Teaching Practices Conference” provides PIS teachers the opportunity to share ideas with each other and learn best practices for translating their research experience into their teaching of science and scientific inquiry.