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 us 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 to conduct the designed activities in their classrooms, and members of participating labs will assist teachers when they institute the 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 Irene Newton (microbial genetics/evolution), Nick Sokol (cell and developmental biology), Jake McKinlay (microbial metabolism), Troy Smith (behavior and evolution), Julia van Kessel (microbial cell biology and responses ), and Erik Ragsdale (evolution and development).