As we prepare for an exciting new season of Science Connections: The Podcast, we鈥檙e looking back at past seasons and sharing some of the amazing conversations we鈥檝e had so far.
We鈥檙e so grateful to our 15 guests whose insight, expertise, and generosity have made our podcast (if we may!) one of the best science podcasts out there.
If you鈥檙e new here, welcome! In Amplify鈥檚 Science Connections: The Podcast, host Eric Cross talks to educators, scientists, and subject matter experts about ways to best support and inspire the next generation of 21st-century scientists.
Get ready for season 3, with all-new topics and speakers, premiering in March!
Our first featured throwback episode, Bringing community and joy to the learning process in K鈥�8 science instruction, features physicist Dr. Desir茅 Whitmore!
First, meet Dr. Whitmore
Dr. Whitmore has nicknamed herself 鈥淟aserchick.鈥� It鈥檚 a reference to the focus of her postdoc work at UC Berkeley, where she designed and built attosecond lasers. (These laser pulses, which emit x-ray light, are the fastest ever measured).
She later became a professor of laser and photonics technology at Irvine Valley College, as well as a science curriculum specialist for Amplify. She鈥檚 now senior physics educator in the Teacher Institute at the ExplOratorium in San Francisco.
There, she works to support middle and high school science teachers in teaching through inquiry. On a given day, she says, her role may include 鈥渕aking fudge or blowing darts with marshmallows across the room.鈥�
But it all began with bubbles鈥攖he ones she鈥檇 blow as a child with her beloved great-grandmother. She was also the kind of kid who would do experiments in the microwave or take apart the vacuum cleaner. 鈥淚 was always asking questions,鈥� she says.
聽“Everything we do is science”鈥攁nd more.
Here are some key takeaways from Dr. Whitmore鈥檚 conversation with Eric Cross.
- Let students do their thing. Whitmore and Cross talked about students who didn鈥檛 hew to the letter of the assignment鈥攁nd actually went beyond. That鈥檚 more than okay.
I think it鈥檚 amazing when we can realize as teachers that no, our job is not to just enforce rules on our students. Our job is to help students achieve more learning.
鈥擠r. Desir茅 Whitmore
- Representation truly matters. Dr. Whitmore, who is Black, recalls a chemistry teacher she had in high school who was also Black. “He looked like me and spoke the way I spoke,” she says. He also recognized that she knew a lot about chemistry, and half-jokingly encouraged her to teach the class sometimes. In Whitmore’s experience, representation like that can supersede content knowledge.
- Science is everything and everywhere. 鈥淪cience is something that everyone in the world should and does do,鈥� says Whitmore. She sees part of her job as 鈥渉elping people understand that everything we do is science.鈥�
- Show scientists as real people. Whitmore recalls a time when an eighth-grader she鈥檇 known growing up was thrilled to recognize her in an 性爱巴士Science video. The student knew her as a 鈥渞egular human鈥� who likes 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� and 鈥淪tar Wars,鈥� but now also sees her as a scientist. 鈥淭hat really brought home for me the importance of my work,鈥� she says.
- Put teachers in students鈥� shoes. As part of professional development, Cross and Whitmore agree that it鈥檚 important for teachers to remember how it feels to have a question鈥攖o not know. 鈥淭hat helps me be in the position of my students emotionally,鈥� says Cross.
Perhaps that鈥檚 the most powerful way for teachers to connect with their future scientists: 鈥淭o experience science as a learner,鈥� says Whitmore.
Additional resources
Inquiry-based learning: 3 tips for science teachers
New professional development series for science educators
