The Indiana University Department of Biology seeks high school biology educators to participate in its five-day Biology Summer Institute.

The Biology Summer Institute is designed for biology teachers to learn about ongoing research in the Indiana University Department of Biology and to work with faculty to design activities that can be used in their classrooms. Members of participating biology laboratories will provide a general introduction to their research programs and will work with teachers to develop innovative exercises and experiments to enrich their students’ conceptual understanding of the life science curriculum. The Department of Biology will provide teachers with the supplies necessary for their classrooms to conduct the designed activities co-designed by teachers and members of the biology labs.

This program offers a way to connect teachers and their students to ongoing research in our department and to heighten students’ general understanding of biology. Simultaneously, the program will provide teachers with an opportunity to learn about the latest research in their fields of interest and help them to develop novel tools to motivate and educate their students. The program also offers teachers the chance to deepen their collaborations with individual faculty members, which could lead to further collaboration through National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Teachers (NSF RET) grants.

Faculty participants include Julia van Kessel (microbial cell biology and responses), Erik Ragsdale (evolution and development), David Kehoe (microbial genetics and environmental responses), Jake McKinlay (microbial cell biology and metabilism), and Spencer Hall (community ecology).