Staff Spotlight: Meet Mary Simons – teacher and science researcher
Join us in shining a spotlight on Fort Plain High School biology and chemistry teacher Mary Simons. Simons spent this past summer researching some very tiny beings that live in our rivers and now has some really big ideas to share with our students.
“The Fort Plain Central School District is proud to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our high school science teacher, Mary Simons. Participation with the Cary Institute’s BioRETS program has not only strengthened her expertise, but also enriches the opportunities available to our students,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Karen Geelan.
This summer while school was out, Fort Plain High School biology and chemistry teacher Mary Simons was still in the classroom—and in love with what she was learning as part of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies’ BioRETS program (Biology Research Experience for Teachers.)
Through six weeks of intensive ecology instruction and field work, Simons and teachers from around the state developed their research skills by investigating a parasite’s effects on zooplankton that play an important role in Hudson River fisheries. The teachers were guided in this research by Cary Institute’s aquatic disease ecologist Dr. Tara Stewart Merrill.
The program also offered the teachers tools for turning complex scientific and research skills and processes into unique learning experiences for their students.
Simons and her research teammates presented their scientific findings and curriculum innovations at the Cary Institute in early August. Over the coming school year, Simons will work with BioRETS program managers to fine-tune her new lesson plans.
The [BioRETS program] was so incredibly satisfying and made me want to go back to school again,” said Simons. “I was treated like a scientist and given an enormous amount of scientific support that I am excited to share in the classroom with our students.”
Science in and outside our schools
Building a scientific research program for the students at Fort Plain has been a goal for Simons since she joined the district three years ago.
With the learning, support and connections to the scientific community she received this summer, Simons plans to create more ways for students to develop their own questions and dig for answers.
As a start, Simon’s biology students will be nature journaling around campus this fall – spending time each week in the same location and taking note of what they see, hear, smell and feel, and how things change over time.
“They will be asking lots and lots of questions,” said Simons, “which will generate ideas for science projects in the future.”
Simons is also launching a science club this year for students who are curious about their world and have questions the scientific process can help them answer.
Ultimately, Simons would like to launch a course in scientific research with experiences that allow students to contribute to the Cary Institute’s RAD lab (research of aquatic diseases) project by surveying the health of the Mohawk River and its tiny inhabitants.
“I want to give our students some unique and meaningful experiences in learning that they love and want to do more of once they leave school, in college and for their careers,” Simons said.