How I Spent My Vacation| Professional Development

How I spent my vacation

By SAMANTHA MOORES
Richard Jones on a boat
Montana's Richard Jones

How does a landlocked science teacher from Billings, Montana, get to spend two months aboard a research ship in the tropical Pacific? By filling out an application, of course. For Richard Jones, Montana's "Teacher at Sea," the answer is that simple.

As head of the science department at Billings Senior High, Jones, 38, keeps his eyes peeled for anything interesting that comes across his desk — applications, invitations, project bulletins. "I'll fill out anything," he confesses. "It can't hurt to try." After 10 years in the classroom, this intrepid teacher has learned that long shots often pay off.

Take his two months at sea aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship Ka'imimoana. As part of NOAA's Teacher at Sea program during the summer of 1998, Jones worked with researchers exploring the role of the tropical ocean in modifying the world's climate. The ship's crew deployed, recovered, and serviced deep-sea moorings that measure ocean currents, ocean temperature, and atmospheric variables throughout the equatorial Pacific. These measurements were transmitted in "real time" to the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle and are available to researchers around the world working on a variety of climate studies, including El Niño research and weather prediction. In addition to the buoy operations, the ship measured upper-ocean currents, sea surface temperature, salinity, carbon dioxide content, Carbon 14 and chlorophyll, and upper-air atmospheric soundings. An ongoing census of barnacles and marine life that inhabit the recovered moorings was also conducted during the mission.

The project was a dream come true for Jones, who has won numerous teaching honors, including a Tandy "Champions of the Classroom" award and a 1996 Presidential Teaching Award in Secondary Sciences. Although his voyage was nearly two years ago, the rush he got from the trip is still fresh. "The experience was phenomenal. For a science teacher to actually get to do science is really rare," says Jones. "I think the kids respect you more when you have actually gone out and done the things you are teaching them about. It's more than just a lecture or a passage from a textbook."

After two months at sea, Jones returned to the classroom recharged and brimming with ideas for classroom projects. In his 11th- and 12th-grade physics classes, for example, Jones used a NOVA video on El Niño and the daily journal entries, digital photos, and data he collected during his trip to give students an indepth look at how research is conducted and findings are used to solve real-world problems. He also has kids involved in more inquiry-based learning projects, such as individual research exploring water consumption and population growth. Students use statistical sampling and mathematical modeling, and report their findings to the rest of the class.

Jones' students get more out of his travels than just interesting classroom projects. "When kids ask, 'Where is this ever going to apply?' I can cite dozens of examples," Jones explains. "I also use my experiences to teach a unit on cooperation and team building. Living on a ship, your life really depends on how well you work with other people. All of this is giving kids real-life connections to education, giving them access to more than just the four walls of the classroom."

The Teacher at Sea program also requires teachers to share their professional development experiences with other educators. Jones had to submit a report to NOAA's Education Office detailing the cruise events and providing ideas for classroom implementation; develop a mini-unit based on his experiences at sea; and either write an article for publication or make a presentation to colleagues at an educator's conference.

He chose to present at the National Science Teachers Convention in Boston last summer, and has also talked about the Teacher at Sea program at smaller, regional conferences.

Next up for Jones is a New Year's trip to Antarctica, where he will work alongside researchers through a program funded by the National Science Foundation. While there, he'll be online on a daily basis, checking in with his students and giving them project updates.

Several other teachers from the Northwest region have participated in NSF field projects, which send classroom teachers along on scientific expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. A Vancouver, Washington, teacher camped near Kennicott Glacier in Alaska last summer, collecting data with a team of scientists. A high school teacher from Barrow, Alaska, sailed aboard a Coast Guard ice breaker, helping researchers analyze the chemistry and biology of ice in the Beaufort Sea.

NSF's program picks up all expenses, including the teacher's airfare and the cost of a substitute to cover his classroom. The investment can run as high as $14,000 per teacher. But as an NSF spokesperson told the Anchorage Daily News, "This is a small investment to bring actual research experiences to students in the classroom."

For Jones, the motivation is simple: "As teachers, we require our kids to learn new things, but we ourselves tend to slack off. We get comfortable in a job and get in a rut, teaching the same stuff year after year. I want to do something new every year."

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