OKLAHOMA CITY, May 22, 2006 – The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has named five state public school teachers as Foundation Scholars. The middle- and high-school science teachers were selected from a statewide pool of applicants to attend a four-week summer science program in OMRF’s laboratories in Oklahoma City.

“We are excited to welcome our 19th class of Foundation Scholars,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D. “We hope their experience at OMRF will provide them with many valuable teaching tools they can use when they return to their classrooms next fall.”

The teachers will participate in the course “Living Chemistry,” which focuses on cell metabolism and the production of biological energy. It will give the educators a chance to design an integrated series of projects that will provide a fresh way of teaching science to their students. The teachers will work with active medical researchers and also attend seminars hosted by OMRF research scientists.

“As Foundation Scholars, these teachers will learn together, work together and share ideas for enriching their classroom teaching methods,” said OMRF researcher Tim Mather, Ph.D., science coordinator for the program. “This hands-on program particularly helps rural Oklahoma teachers, who often feel isolated in the classroom. When these educators return to their schools, we hope their newfound knowledge will benefit not only them, but their students and their colleagues as well.”

Selected as 2006 Foundation Scholars are:

Stephanie Bailey, Choctaw, Midwest City High School;
Sally Fenska, Miami, Miami High School;
Jerry Hays, Hominy, Hominy Middle School;
Jeffrey Hedger, Pryor, Adair High School; and
Jo Jones, Mounds, Liberty Public Schools.

Fenska, who’s been teaching 23 years, is looking forward to her summer at OMRF. She has encouraged numerous students to consider science-related professions. “I have often felt envious of their opportunities. Many times these former students will ask me if I have done any new research,” she said. “I believe I would be better at inspiring my current and former students to think beyond the classroom if I could answer yes.”

Hays said the program will give him the tools needed to “let go of the lecture more and allow my students to engage and discover ideas themselves.”

For Bailey, who previously participated in the Foundation Scholars Program in 1999, the experience gave her a better understanding of science as an ongoing process. “I think my students have benefited from my experience as a Foundation Scholar because I have put more lab-type activities into my practice,” she said. “I have a different attitude about outcomes; the experience is more valuable than the result.”

Hedger has participated in other summer activities for science teachers. But, he says, the OMRF program will help him “grow and learn more about inquiry-based science techniques.”

Jones also believes she would gain new ideas for activities that would help her “show” rather than “tell” information to her students. “I would expect to return to the classroom this fall with a new arsenal of ideas and information from which my students would surely benefit.”

Since 1988, more than 60 Oklahoma science teachers have participated in OMRF’s Foundation Scholar Program. For more information about the Foundation Scholar Program, visit www.omrf.org/OMRF/Education/Foundation2006.asp.

About OMRF:
Celebrating its 60th birthday in 2006, OMRF (www.omrf.org) is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. It is home to Oklahoma’s only member of the National Academy of Sciences.