While a graduate student in biology, I became hooked on teaching through a teaching assistantship and intrigued with the complexity of human learning. Biology experiments seemed easy by comparison to educational ones! I moved into classroom teaching at an independent school and taught middle level and high school science for several years before completing a doctorate in science education at Cal Berkeley. I have been at CC since 1973. Over the years I have received several multi-million dollar National Science Foundation grants including one to develop the Master of Arts in Teaching Integrated Natural Sciences degree program for K-12 teachers, and more recently a six year grant to support K-6 teachers implementing inquiry science in the Pikes Peak region. I was one of the contributing authors of the National Science Education Standards (1996) and co-authored several other books and reports from the National Academy of Science, including Educating Teachers of Science, Mathematics and Technology (2001). In 1999, the Dean of the College invited me to try a stint directing a fairly new faculty center for learning and teaching, the Crown Faculty Center. I no longer actively teach in the Education Department (except in the MAT INS program for experienced teachers), instead devoting my energies to providing direction and coordination for the Learning Commons at Tutt Library, which my planning team opened in fall 2004. Come to Tutt Library and say hello!
pkuerbis@coloradocollege.edu
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