Katie McCann
Love of physics
Katie McCann was 5 when she fell in
love with science. Inspired by each edition of Your Big Backyard,
then Ranger Rick, she headed outdoors and "checked stuff out."
That thrill of discovery stayed with
her through middle school, when astrophysics became her passion. But in
high school, McCann hit a self-described rough patch. Classes in
chemistry and physics were uninteresting, mostly because they didn't
seem to have real-world applications.
The experience left her uncertain about
her course of study at Northeastern University. Ultimately, she found
biomedical physics and collaborated on research at Brigham and Women's
Hospital focused on neurodevelopment of the preterm infant brain. In
particular, she studied cerebral fluid flow as a possible indicator of
brain injury or defect.
McCann's rediscovery of her love of
science occurred because her coursework was driven more by concepts and
theory than by formulas and prescribed experimental outcomes.
"I began thinking more deeply about the
huge underlying concepts that are so amazing and beautiful," she says.
"And I like that there may be more than one way to solve a problem. You
may not remember the equations, but if you know the basics, you can
solve the problem. That's where the beauty comes in."
McCann's undergraduate experience could
have led her to pursue graduate work and a job in industry or research.
But that was not an option, she says.
"I wanted a career, so I'm going into
teaching," McCann says. "For me, it's the difference between a job and
fulfillment."
Last year, McCann enrolled in the
University of Maine's Center for Science and Mathematics Education
Research, which supports scientists and mathematicians committed to
teaching. As a master's student, she's studying how students learn
physics in an inquiry-based curriculum.
"An inquiry-based curriculum is so much
more effective than lecturing to students," she says. "When the lab
precedes what the teacher talks about, the discussion is more dynamic
and students have more input."
McCann not only wants to teach science,
she is committed to teaching it in a rural Maine high school like the
one she attended. She'll do that after she finishes her graduate work
with the help of a prestigious five-year fellowship she was awarded this
past spring from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation.
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