I am currently working on obtaining my initial teaching certication for TExES Field 138 (Life Science 8-12). I plan to teach high school biology.
I chose my topic, "Strategies for Motivating Readers in High School Science Classes", for several reasons. First, since not all of my future students will be as enthusiastic about science as I am, I wanted to learn more about how I could motivate students in the classroom. Second, I realize that science books and articles can throw a lot of technical information out to students at once, so I wanted to learn about how I could make reading about science seem less intimidating.
There wasn't anything in particular that I was hoping to discover during the course of my research. My goal was to learn as much as I could about my topic, which seemed like a reasonable goal to me, since this is my first semester in the certification program and I have never taken any previous education courses.
This research will impact my future teaching assignments in several ways. During interviews with possible employers/school districts, I will be able to tell employers how I will be able to help their students learn and be successful in science classes, based on my research findings. Once employed, I will be more confident in the classroom in my first year of teaching because I will already have a plan that I can use to motivate students in my class.
I have read and understand the following:
Academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form at The University of Texas at Arlington. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University. "Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student of the attempt to commit such acts." (Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision 3.22).
Heike Carrel
4-20-05