This past Friday, when most students and faculty were off
enjoying Head’s Holiday, two of our science faculty ran a hands-on workshop for
biology teachers from across New England. Some thirty-plus faculty turned up
from as far away as Boston and New York City for the workshop organized by
Simon Holdaway and Scott MacClintic. Both are extremely talented teachers who
have helped to develop the Loomis advanced biology curriculum to be one of the
best at the high school level.
We regularly have students return or write to tell us that,
because of the skills and techniques that they learned in the bio labs at
Loomis Chaffee, they now have a research position with a faculty member at
their university. It’s exactly these sorts of experiences that are so essential
to the careers of young scientists—and it is great to know that they got their
start here.
Simon and Scott ran the workshop to share ideas and useable
techniques right from the research world that the participants could incorporate
into their own classrooms. They used a problem-based approach that encouraged
the participants to participate actively in the learning. They transformed E.
coli colonies, ran ultra-fast DNA gels, and learned about the preparation of
GBioscience competent cells. Probably one of the most important aspects of the
workshop was teaching faculty to do these techniques with their own equipment
rather than having to rely on expensive kits—something that is especially
important in these budget-straitened times.
For me, the workshop was a wonderful example of our faculty
demonstrating their leadership in a particular field and then sharing their
knowledge with colleagues from other schools. Loomis Chaffee has long had a
tradition of curricular innovation. We were one of the first schools to
introduce a humanities course and to use conversation-based instruction in the
languages, we developed one of the first world history courses that has served
as a model for hundreds of other schools, and we have a unique and extremely
successful approach to the teaching of writing. Simon, Scott, and their
colleagues in the Science Department are part of this culture of innovation.
This tradition rests on the quality and the strength of the faculty we hire.
They are not only really good in their particular discipline, they also share a
passion for teaching and for getting the best out of our students.
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