鈥淗ow do you tell the sex of a banana slug?鈥�
It鈥檚 a good question, and it comes on a rainy evening in Hitchcock Hall during a session of Biology 492A: Biology Teaching Methods for K-12 Teachers. The class is discussing the banana slugs that creep wetly along student wrists and hands held up for observation.
This course is part of a long 91探花tradition of preparing teachers of biology that was started in the 1960s by Ingrith Deyrup-Olsen, professor of zoology known to all 鈥� even David Letterman 鈥� as The Slug Lady.
Only a few mild gasps of 鈥渆ew鈥� are heard this evening as the students study the slugs and their slimy trails. After all, this class is for undergraduate biology majors and master鈥檚 students in education aiming to become biology teachers themselves.
Plus, they鈥檙e cheered on by their professor, Helen Buttemer, director of聽. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing that animal can do to you 鈥斅�nothing鈥� even though it has a tongue with 27,000 teeth,鈥� she says with a smile. 鈥淪o overcome your squeamishness and pick one up!鈥� She later muses, 鈥淚 truly love banana slugs, they鈥檙e so interesting. They live without any covering, except mucus.鈥�
Buttemer clearly loves this stuff. She has an engaging classroom manner and an interest in biology that goes back to her own small-town childhood of 鈥渃ollecting tadpoles and watching them metamorphose into frogs鈥� as well as several later years of K-12 teaching.
Buttemer has directed Biology Programs for Teachers since 1986, but she is quick to say that Deyrup-Olsen, who retired in 1990 and died in 2004, was the program鈥檚 heart and soul.
鈥淚 admired her so much,鈥� Buttemer says in a separate conversation. 鈥淚n the 1960s she started lobbying for the science departments to pay more attention to teacher preparation. The first one she did was a master鈥檚 degree for existing biology teachers, so they could come back here and get an update in content but at the same time get a research experience 鈥� so they have credibility as scientists themselves when they are teaching.鈥�
The masters degree was changed from an MAT to an MS degree in the 1990s. It鈥檚 administered by The Graduate School, Buttemer said, 鈥渂ut its de facto home is here in biology, and that鈥檚 entirely due to Ingrith. She had such respect here in the Biology Department that whatever she started had a natural momentum to it. And it was just my job to keep it going. I expanded it a little bit.鈥�
She said it鈥檚 鈥渞eally something鈥� that with campus space at such a premium the department also supports a teaching lab and resource center for K-12 teachers.
Biology Programs for Teachers has three main elements:
- 翱惫别谤蝉别别颈苍驳听聽of new teachers in biology.
- Offering a聽聽for existing teachers, and
- Offering summer programs for working teachers, funded by the Howard Hughes Institute and called the聽.
Buttemer also teaches Biology 104, for future elementary school teachers, where the focus, she says, is, 鈥淗ow do you take what you know in biology and turn it into a meaningful experience in a classroom? What kind of resources can you use … inexpensively, and what kind of help there is for you?鈥�
Part of the mission is just helping teachers be more comfortable with nature. If a teacher winces over a worm, for instance, 鈥渢hen they鈥檝e missed a really important chance to help students bond with nature,鈥� Buttemer says. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what our job as elementary teachers is, to help little kids fall in love with nature.鈥�
It鈥檚 hard for teachers to keep up with all the innovation in biology, Buttemer says, but they can give their students a basic understanding of the process of science. 鈥淲e want teachers at all levels to understand that science is a way of asking questions about the world, then answering those questions as best we can with evidence.鈥�
Or, as she tells students on this rainy evening in Biology 492A, 鈥淚t鈥檚 OK not to know everything 鈥� as long as you can help your students ask the next logical question that will lead them toward understanding.鈥�
As the class continues, Buttemer tours the room explaining the evening鈥檚 hands-on activities featuring crickets, insects, crayfish, owl pellets, skulls, hissing cockroaches and the banana slugs, and relates all to how the students will run their own biology classes one day.
鈥淓verybody needs an insect collection! Kids love this kind of stuff!鈥� Then, 鈥淵ou鈥檝e never dissected an owl pellet? How can you never have done that? See what鈥檚 in it!鈥� She later tells them, 鈥淏iology teachers are really good at marshaling resources they have in their environment.鈥�
The students appreciate Buttemer鈥檚 approach. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all practical. She鈥檚 thought through the entire curriculum,鈥� says Riley Brazil, taking 492A as he begins a master鈥檚 in teaching. 鈥淪he has a tremendous amount of experience.鈥�
Buttemer says biology teachers must model environmental responsibility for their students. She in turn gently models classroom skills for these future teachers. She admonishes her students to check with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife before collecting organisms like crayfish from local streams, and to never release organisms into the environment afterward. 鈥淲e have a real problem with invasive crayfish in Washington and teachers and their students have played a part by releasing classroom pets into local lakes.鈥�
Oh, and to answer the student鈥檚 earlier question on determining the sex of banana slugs: They鈥檙e hermaphrodites.
Which is just another starting point for Buttemer: 鈥淭hat leads to another great question: How do they 鈥榙o鈥� it?鈥� she asks, and displays a book that explains such matters for grade school students. Then the answer: 鈥淭hese guys do it neck to neck,鈥� she says. 鈥淟ike commas.鈥�
Buttemer鈥檚 classes are just early steps on the teaching journey being undertaken by her students. But even after they move on to their own classrooms, many tend to stay in touch with Buttemer 鈥� as they did with Deyrup-Olsen years ago.
鈥淭hey often tell me, 鈥淏iology 104 was one of the most practical classes I鈥檝e ever taken. I鈥檝e still got my lab manual and I鈥檓 using it every day,鈥� Buttemer recalls fondly.
鈥溾�橝nd by the way 鈥� where can I get some hissing cockroaches?鈥欌��