Sarah B. Wise

Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, Evolutionary Developmental Biology

SPONSOR: Susan Buhr

TITLE: Teaching Publically Controversial Science

THEMES: Integrating Activities, Climate System Variability

Office: RL-2, 126
E-mail: sarah.wise@colorado.edu
Phone: 303-735-5514
Web: Sarah Wise, Education Outreach Program

When NSF GK-12 fellow Sarah Wise first began teaching biology to 7th graders in Broomfield, Colo., she found that evolution was not part of the curricular plan.

"The middle school teacher I worked with had never taught evolution to her students in ten years. She was worried about angry responses from parents," says Wise.

Now, a Visiting Fellow with CIRES Outreach, Wise wonders whether climate change is another subject K-12 science teachers tend to avoid because of the publicly controversial nature of the topic.

During her fellowship, Wise will survey more than 300 K-12 teachers across Colorado to understand which social factors influence their choices about what to teach.

According to Wise, surveys about teaching evolution in the K-12 classroom are few and far between, and none to date have been published about teaching climate change.

While working to understand which factors may affect teaching about climate change, Wise is also preparing educational resources for those teachers who are already gung-ho about broaching the subject with their students.

"I'm interviewing teachers to find out what resources they need, and I'm organizing a climate outreach group with students and faculty at CU-Boulder to brainstorm new ways to get scientific information to teachers and the public," says Wise.

EXTRA: While getting her Ph.D. at CU-Boulder, Wise studied fish teeth and the genes involved that determine how teeth develop.