Forensics Science Class Learns Real Life Applications from Visitors
This week’s Feature-a-Teacher is Karen Scotese, one of our science teachers.
How long have you been at Regina Dominican?
I have been teaching at RDHS since August 2005.
What have you found most rewarding during your time at Regina?
I have enjoyed working with the girls and my colleagues.
How does Regina Dominican’s all-girls community impact your teaching?
Nearly half of my teaching experience before coming to RDHS had been in an all-girl (and also Adrian Dominican) school. Generally, I believe teaching high school aged girls is easier than teaching boys because the girls usually are much more mature and focused.
This week you had Mike and Ellen Metrick (parents of junior Erin Metrick), visit your forensic science class to talk about evidence. Can you tell us what the purpose of this visit was?
The Metricks were so kind and spent most of their free day speaking to our students about their experiences as evidence technicians. Much of the forensic science class has been about the different categories of evidence and how to process each category. The visit provided a real-world view of topics that we had covered or will be covering.
What was the biggest takeaway from their visit for you? And for the girls?
I enjoyed seeing the evidence kit and the magnetic fingerprint powder. The girls enjoyed hearing about the real-life applications.
Seeing as these visitors were also current parents, why do you feel parent involvement is so important?
Parental knowledge and experience can add a level of richness to the school experience for our students.
What are some other things your classes are currently learning?
My biology classes have completed the biochemistry unit and are now studying body systems. We have just completed the digestive system and are now studying respiration. My chemistry class has been learning chemistry skills and has started studying density.
Do you have a certain science class that is your favorite to teach and why?
My favorite class is level one chemistry. It gives me so much pleasure when my students realize that with perseverance and hard work they can learn to solve complex problems. I feel that teaching chemistry is a good vehicle for teaching them this life lesson since initially, they have little knowledge of the discipline. At first, just reading the text is very difficult for my students. Yet by the end of the year, they can read a problem, determine what they need to know to solve it and figure out a way to get a solution. Many of the girls may take several tries to solve problems but realize it isn’t important to be the first one to reach a solution but that it is very important to keep trying. If they can apply this to life in general, they will not limit themselves.
