Dr Sara P Chavarria PhD (U Arizona)

Having received a PhD in Reading, Language and Culture at the University of Arizona, Sara Chavarria has been focusing on integrated curriculum development in multiple university and school district programs for students. Her work includes the uses of digital technologies for outreach education. In addition to the curriculum services she offers, Dr. Chavarria also coordinates and performs evaluation tasks for other outreach programs. Currently, two of the long-term projects she is engaged in are 1) designing free on-line lessons in American History and World History classrooms (http://pulse.pharmacy.arizona.edu) for the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of Arizona; and 2) organizing and co-directing the Archaeology Summer Institute for Educators for the IGERT Program in Archaeological Sciences, University of Arizona (http://datamonster.sbs.arizona.edu/IGERT/summer.php & http://datamonster.sbs.arizona.edu/IGERT/outreach.php).

As a professional outreach educator, Dr. Chavarria is an expert translator of academic knowledge. This skill is what makes it possible to create engaging curriculum materials as well as assessment tools to best develop productive and sustainable learning tools for classrooms and outreach programs. Dr. Chavarria strives to ensure that the quality of presentation, content, and accessibility guarantee the widest audience appeal possible to ensure that the materials are effectively communicated to as diverse an audience as this countries K-12 students. Dr. Chavarria’s professional archaeology background doesn’t hurt either as it helps generate constructive approaches to lesson design meant to engage the student in their learning experience by bringing in her understanding of the human experience (both past and present).

Dr Peter D Edwards PhD (Birmingham, UK), BS (Birmingham, UK)

Dr Edwards received BS and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham in England. He has taught and/or tutored mathematics, science and computing for several middle and high schools in the Tucson area. He has presented summer workshops in the Tucson area and now teaches mathematics, chemistry and physics for Sage Valley School.

Prior to teaching, Dr Edwards gained first hand experience of science/math skills and competencies needed by industrial scientists and engineers. As a senior research scientist for the DuPont Company, he developed new chemical products and manufacturing processes. He also developed mathematical design methods for chemical manufacturing processes. Dr Edwards served as DuPont science liaison for sponsored research programs with major universities in the US (MIT, UMass, Carnegie Mellon) and Europe (Imperial College and University of Edinburgh). He has represented DuPont and the US for science/engineering research projects sponsored by NIST, DOE, IEA (International Energy Agency) and the European Union. Dr Edwards was appointed as Adjunct Professor by the University of Delaware and by Wilmington College, where he taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Laura Howard MA (UM – SL)

Laura Howard received BA and MA degrees in philosophy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is currently completing the PhD in philosophy at the University of Arizona.  Her areas of specialty are normative ethics, and cognitive science with an emphasis in moral psychology.  She has taught courses in ethics, philosophy of religion, and introductory metaphysics and epistemology at both universities.  She is currently doing research in the cognitive mechanisms of moral judgment, while concentrating on exploring the ways in which narrative and oral storytelling affect moral learning and behavior.  She is very interested in theories of moral education for children, but is equally interested to hear the voices of experienced educators who face moral education as a practical challenge on a daily basis.

Ms Sally Thompson MAT (Johns Hopkins), BA (UT Austin)

Ms Thompson has a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and a Bachelor's in English Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. Ms Thompson has taught Composition, English Literature, Drama and the Theory of Knowledge, and has been a teacher, International Baccalaureate Coordinator and National Honor Society sponsor at schools in China, Argentina, Kenya and the United States.

Mr Robert Young MSc (Oxon), BA (Auck), Dip Tch, RSA.

Mr Young has a Master's degree in Educational Administration from the University of Oxford in England, a Bachelor's in Linguistics and English Language and Literature from the University of Auckland in New Zealand and a Diploma in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language from Great Britain's Royal Society of the Arts. Mr Young has over 20 years in teaching and school administrative experience at schools worldwide, and has taught English Language, English Literature, Journalism and Mathematics in New Zealand, Austria, Britain, Argentina, Kenya and the United States. Mr Young has presented at workshops and seminars for students and teachers, and at major international teacher conferences.

We would always like to hear from potential workshop leaders and presenters. If you are interested in presenting a professional development through the Institute, please contact us.