testimonial from mario Godoy-gonzalez

Mario Godoy-Gonzalez

Royal City High School
Royal City, Washington

I fell in love with biotechnology after taking a summer program, called the Science Education Partnership, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle in 1995. I liked the hands-on activities and have been involved in some sort of professional development in the field of biotech education ever since.

What surprises me is that I love teaching biotechnology, even though I'm not a trained science teacher! I left Chile 11 years ago to become an English as a Second Language teacher in Washington state. The majority of our students come from migrant families. When the Royal School District realized that many Spanish-speaking students were dropping out after 8th grade because there was no one at the high school helping Hispanic/Latino students to develop their English language skills, so they launched a program to recruit bilingual teachers, and that's how I came to the United States.

Today, I teach everything from English to history to biotechnology. All of my students are Hispanic and bilingual.

I was taught science the "old-fashioned" way-studying science textbooks followed by a written test. Biotechnology brings science to life in the classroom and at home. Biotechnology inspires my students because it's current; biotechnology is in the news and on TV shows like "CSI" nearly every day. As a result, my students are more curious about studying biotech and can immediately understand its impact.

The Biotechnology Institute provides fun labs and exercises that teachers can readily include in the classroom. Biotechnology education involves active, not passive, learning which also makes biotech more enjoyable to teach.

I was one of 50 teachers lucky enough to attend the first Biotechnology Teacher Training event in Seattle in 1999. I was looking for easy and cost-effective ways to introduce biotechnology into my classroom.

What I found changed my teaching experience for good. I learned hands-on activities that I could easily adapt in my classes. I had the opportunity to talk to other teachers faced with the same challenges and experiences that I had. We shared curriculum ideas and lab exercises. One of my favorite experiences was sharing creative solutions for lab equipment in order to save money on costly materials. DNA extraction from fruits is one of the most interesting labs my kids have performed. We even extracted DNA from onions. a very "smelly" experience!!!

In 2003, under the leadership of the Biotechnology Institute, I attended the National Biotechnology Teacher-Leader program that has developed from the Seattle event. Here, I was one of 100 participants. I would encourage any teacher to participate in the Teacher-Leader Program. The program provides a very unique opportunity to discover science through practical, easy to understand activities. You have the chance to learn the same way that kids do-and we even share the same "oops" moments.

I also believe that the Teacher-Leader Program is vitally important in teaching tomorrow's generation of leaders about biotechnology. The study of biotechnology opens the door to the knowledge they will need to make responsible and ethical decisions in just a few short years about this rapidly expanding field.

Hispanics/Latinos are underrepresented in the world of science and technology. By teaching biotechnology I hope to change that. Everything I learn in workshops and professional training sessions I share with my students.

When I started at Royal High School in 1993, almost none of the Hispanic students went on to college. Last year, six of my students graduated and are attending college, many of them intending to study science or education.

When I started at Royal High School in 1993, almost none of the Hispanic students went on to college. Last year, six of my students graduated and are attending college, many of them intending to study science or education. Osiel, one of my former students, was inspired to attend college this semester to study as a biotechnology technician, despite getting a late start because he had to work in the fields picking apples in order to make enough money.

Leah is a senior I am mentoring for an independent studies class. She loves plants and flowers so she chose to study the influence of biotechnology in transgenic seeds. We started by first talking about the crops that grow in our community. I shared with her a corn seed experiment that I learned at the Institute's Conference on Biotechnology Education in Washington D.C., which she is now using for her project. Today, she comes in three times a day to care for her plants, and she is studying the differences in growth among the seeds.

As part of the Institute's National Biotechnology Teacher-Leader Program, one of my responsibilities as a Teacher-Leader is to serve as an ambassador among my peers and encourage other educators to incorporate biotechnology into the classroom. Recently, I conducted two teacher training workshops at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS.) For the first time in the SACNAS history, biotechnology was introduced to more than 60 teachers from across the nation.

November, 2004