RPA Science Instructor Receives National Publication

RPA science teacher Elinor Wilson’s project centered around teaching about wildland fire was recently published in National Science Teacher Association, a national community of 40,000 members — science educators and professionals committed to best practices in teaching science and STEM and its impact on student learning. 

The curriculum designed as a part of this project seeks to provide science educators with lessons for teaching about wildland fire to students in the western United States and other parts of the world impacted by wildfire.

Wilson began her work in 2019, while completing her Master’s in teaching at OSU-Cascades. Her advisor, Mike Giamellaro, and Heidi Dixon of Realms High in Bend were working together on a study of wildfire at the time when they had a chemistry question. Insert Wilson, whose background is chemistry and environmental science. Wilson was asked to help them out and later officially joined the project, and began working together during the 2020-21 school year to develop curriculum and to adapt materials that had already been made compatible with for distance learning. 

Wilson’s work on the project was the inspiration for the RPA class she taught with instructors Lauren Langand and Elayna Keller called Integrated Science Wheel: Wildfire! In the fall 2022 semester. 

Read the study here: Wildfire!