Meredith Park Rogers has been selected to receive the Outstanding Mentor award from the Association for Science Teacher Education, an international organization that promotes scholarship, collaboration, and innovation in science teacher education, and seeks to advance policy and practice that contributes to more just and equitable outcomes for teachers of science.

“For me, it was an extreme honor to find out that I won it because this is an association that is at the heart of my work. I really first and foremost see myself as a science teacher educator. My work intersects across pre-service, in-service and teacher educators, meaning our doctoral students as the next generation of faculty,” Park Rogers said. 

Park Rogers, Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Teacher Education, approaches mentoring in many different ways that help out all those she works with.

From a pre service teacher standpoint, part of my approach is to help build their confidence in what it is they’re doing. It’s also learning where the pre-service teachers are in their own ideas about their abilities and skills for teaching science and building from there,” Park Rogers explained. “When I work with in-service teachers, it's more about honoring the experience they have as classroom teachers and drawing on their expertise about the classroom context and supporting them with innovative ways to engage their students in learning science.

“A big part of what I do with my doctoral students is to understand where they are in their experience with teaching science and their position on teaching science. From there I challenge them to examine their practice through a researcher lens using self-study methodology. During this reflective process I listen as they grapple with problems of practice, and work with them to consider solutions to these problems,” she added.  “I believe it is important to keep in mind that our doctoral students are learning not only to become scholars, but educators of teachers. It’s a growing process for them as well.” 

Park Rogers will receive her award at the association’s annual conference in January.