I’m moving to a different state to take a teaching position. I don’t know anyone there, so where can I look for guidance on state standards and other resources that would be helpful in my new job? —W., Pennsylvania

Congratulations on finding a job! I hope you will have a mentor and meet other colleagues who will help you adjust to a new school in a new state. In the meantime, I suggest the following:

• Be sure to check out your new state’s Department of Education website for links to standards, resources, and professional certification requirements.
• Familiarize yourself with your new school district’s science curriculum guide and the school handbook, and ask about the textbook or electronic resources used in the course and the type of technology available in your school. Browse the websites for your new school and the community.
• To connect directly with others in your new state, subscribe to the relevant NSTA email list and post your state-specific questions or requests for information. There are options by subject areas (chemistry, physics, biology, Earth science, general science), grade level teaching (e.g., elementary, middle, early childhood) or other topics such as Next Generation Science Standards, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and pedagogy. In my experience, our colleagues respond with relevant and helpful advice in a timely manner. As an NSTA member, you can subscribe to as many lists as you want through the NSTA website. 
• Post questions or requests to NSTA’s Discussion Forums. You can also search previous posts.  
• Connect with (and join) the NSTA state chapter or associated group.  These local organizations sponsor conferences and other events, post links to professional development opportunities, provide a calendar of events, and offer other ways to connect with science teachers, including social media.
• Check out local science centers, parks, or museums in your new community for what they have to offer. By becoming a member you can connect with other teachers at events, as well as add to a network of community resources. For example, a member of a park that I belong to is a herpetologist and museum curator who is always eager to share his knowledge and expertise.
• When you get to your new community, visit the nearest public library to see what materials and resources are available to you and your students.
• Take a look at what local colleges or universities have to offer, in terms of outreach projects with schools, graduate courses, lecture series, or guest speakers.

Many of these resources can be explored online. If possible, reserve some time before the first day to give yourself onsite opportunities to prepare yourself and your classroom/lab (and have a little breathing room before the first day). During this time, your district may offer teacher workshops. Take advantage of these to meet other teachers and become familiar with the culture of your new school.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjlook/7152722/sizes/s/in/photostream/

Anatomy: The subject tend to make teachers freeze up, or make the obligatory “gross” puns. But it’s a great topic for STEM, and a career field more students need to know about.

The NSTA staff had a chance to sit down at the 2016 STEM Forum and Expo with Shawn Boynes (SB), Executive Director of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA), and Lisa Lee (LL), Associate Professor  at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, to learn a little more.

Q. What does an anatomy career look like?

A. Anatomy is the core competency for any career in health care. But it’s not just gross anatomy—there are so many branches like histology, neurology, embryology. Career pathways could take students into pathology labs, the field as an anthropologist, a classroom as a biology teacher, the coroner’s office. —LL

Q. What could a K-12 teacher do to encourage more students to go into anatomy?

A. We have members in almost every medical and dental school in the United States, and they work on outreach. Teachers could contact us to find an anatomist who could set up a demonstration or program for them. Going through AAA makes it much easier to develop this type of relationship; you don’t want to just call a med school and ask the receptionist to send a skeleton to your school! —SB

Q. That sounds great for older students, but what about teachers of really young children? Many teachers of that age group don’t have a science background.

A. It doesn’t have to be intimidating. That’s one of our goals is to dispel that notion. A preschool teacher could start with simply getting students familiar with their own bodies. Ask questions like: What are these hard things in here? What’s the squishy part in the middle? What’s this leathery stuff on the outside? And read books about the body with them! —LL

Q. Dissection. It’s a difficult subject for some.

A. There are some stand-ins for biological specimens, but you certainly can’t be a doctor without having dissected an actual human body. But there are some good companies out there, making virtual dissection software, specimens in clay, and so forth. For K-12 students, these alternatives allow students to become familiar with anatomy. —SB

A. At med schools, there is a tremendous respect for cadavers. When we have finished learning from each one, we hold a memorial service and all students and teachers who have been honored to work with it take part, and the family members are invited. The families always come, and it’s very moving. —LL

Q. What do you hope to get out of the STEM Forum and Expo?

A. We are here to learn. We’re in an exploratory phase, for AAA, looking for ways we can reach out to K-12 STEM educators. To learn how we can get student into the anatomy career pipeline earlier, make anatomy more accessible as a subject they can teach. —SB

Q. What else should STEM teachers know about your association?

A. We want to encourage more students to get into the anatomy profession, and we have great programs for preservice anatomy students. Find them all here: Student, Postdoc and Young Faculty Competition Award Winners. We have a strong commitment to bringing younger members into the profession, and in fact we have two Board of Director positions specifically for student members so that they can bring new ideas and help us address their particular challenges. Learn more about us at http://www.anatomy.org/. —SB

Q. Any skeletons in your closets?

A. Yes! I’m a collector, and they come in really handy at Halloween. —LL

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Future NSTA Conferences

2016 Area Conferences

• Minneapolis, October 27–29
• Portland, November 10–12
• Columbus, December 1–3

2017 National Conference

• Los Angeles, March 30–April 2

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