Montana State summer program gives Yaak teacher new ideas

BOZEMAN — For the last five years, Sabre' Alderete has taught kindergarten through eighth-grade students in a one-room school in the far northwestern Montana community of Yaak. 

Some years she has a couple of students, last year she had nine and she expects to teach five during the coming school year.

“I teach all the classes,” said Alderete, for whom teaching is a second career. “I’m also the lunch lady, the PE coach, the nurse, the counselor, the principal.”

Alderete said she, herself, is always trying to learn. 

“The more knowledge I have – and things change every day – the better teacher I’ll be for my kids,” she said.

So when she heard about a Montana State University program called Research Experience for Teachers, Alderete knew right away that she wanted to apply. The six-week program offers Montana elementary school teachers hands-on research experiences and ideas for bringing science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, into their classrooms.

“Our goal is to provide teachers with an authentic research experience that they can take back to their classrooms and inspire the next generation of engineers and other STEM professionals, especially among students who might not otherwise think of these fields as a career option," said project leader Paul Gannon, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and associate director of the Montana Engineering Education Research Center in MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. 

This is the final summer of the three-year program, which is backed by a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Participants receive a $6,000 stipend and assistance with travel costs, and housing and meals are provided. 

Alderete said she was thrilled to be selected for the program. As one of eight participating elementary teachers, she spent each week contributing to a real research project at MSU while going on fields trips, engaging in trainings, exchanging lesson ideas with other teachers and more. Other teachers participating in the program this year come from small towns such as Ashland, Cut Bank and St. Xavier, as well as larger communities, including Great Falls and Billings.

“It has been wonderful,” Alderete said. “Every single thing has been a learning experience for me here.”

While at MSU, Alderete worked in the lab of professor Robin Gerlach in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering alongside Kelsey Megerth, a first-grade teacher in Billings. The laboratory researches biofilms and biotechnology development with a focus on bioenergy, biomaterials and environmental applications.

As part of their research, Alderete and Megerth created a lesson plan for their students involving algae. Importantly, Alderete said, they designed it so that it doesn’t require expensive materials.

“We want it to be economical for teachers,” she said, noting that the experiment makes use of sugar, yeast extract and food-grade agar.

Alderete and the other participants have also taken field trips, including to energy facilities and American Indian cultural sites. And they have discussed Indigenous STEM perspectives and generated ideas for fulfilling Montana's Indian Education for All mandate.

The connections she has made with the other participating teachers have been particularly valuable, Alderete said.

“Since (the COVID-19 pandemic) we’ve all had rough years, but this (program) is different,” Alderete said. “It feels like we’re part of a team. We’re all collaborating on how we’re going to remain in contact after this experience. We want to stay in touch.”

Sweeney Windchief, associate professor of education in MSU's College of Education, Health and Human Development, is advising the program on including Indigenous perspectives, while Nick Lux, associate professor of education, and Abigail Richards, associate professor and head of the chemical and biological engineering department, are co-leading the project. 

The MSU Science Math Resource Center supports the project. Project collaborators have included Northwestern Energy, Montana State Parks, Museum of the Rockies, the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Program, the USDA Fire Sciences Laboratory and Montana’s Space Grant Consortium. 

Alderete praised the professors with whom she has interacted while at MSU.

“The professors are so intelligent, but they break (what they’re teaching) down to a level where we don’t feel intimidated,” she said. “Then they say, ‘We’re learning from you as well.’”

Alderete said she has also valued the opportunity throughout the program to practice doing what she tries to teach her own students: To try new things and to learn from mistakes.

“I tell my students: ‘Don’t second-guess yourself. You’re going to make mistakes, because that’s what life is about. Once you make a mistake, learn from it and change it. That’s what scientists, engineers, teachers all do.’”