Target Inquiry gains national attention

Date: October 29, 2009

While gaining national recognition for their work on Target Inquiry, two Grand Valley chemistry faculty members continue to seek grants to expand the innovative program to other institutions.

Target Inquiry is a teaching program for high school chemistry teachers to improve their instruction of chemistry. Deborah Herrington and Ellen Yezierski were invited in September to give a presentation on TI at the U.S. National Academies' Chemical Sciences Roundtable. One of nearly 40 similar presentations they have given worldwide, Herrington said the September event was well-received.

"Our goal is to help improve the quality and frequency in inquiry instruction of high school chemistry," Herrington said. "Inquiry instruction provides students with a better understanding of what scientists actually do."

While the program allows high school teachers to conduct research with Grand Valley's chemistry faculty members, TI is designed with high school students in mind. "We have a very different approach to teacher professional development," said Yezierski, a former high school chemistry teacher. "Our goal is to make sure that it has an impact in the classroom."

Both Herrington and Yezierski are on sabbatical this semester; they are applying for grants that would expand the TI model to become more of the standard in teacher professional development.

"The first teachesr who went through this program have gone on to do some wonderful things and they are being called on to educate other," Herrington said.

Herrington and Yezierski began working on TI four years ago, after securing a grant from the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.


This article can be found in the Monday, October 26, 2009 edition of Forum.