I hope to guide students in experiencing the scientific approach as valuable, and then let them decide how and where to apply this way of viewing the world in their own lives.”
Mark’s Story
Mark is a dedicated educator with over 20 years of experience working with teens in physics, astronomy and computer science. His goal in teaching is to build a group of scholars based on trust and shared humanity by “engineering” classroom experiences that demonstrate the power of science to solve real problems and confront inequities.
After positive experiences teaching at the undergraduate and high school level while a grad student, Mark made the jump to full-time science education in 2005. He taught at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, where he developed after-school and summer programs for teens that combined art and science, as well as involving them in x-ray astronomy research. “Working with urban students whose perspective on the world is so different from my own helps me question my own perspectives in teaching.”
Mark earned a BS in physics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and a master’s degree in astronomy from Harvard University. After his first two years teaching physics at Codman Academy Charter Public School in Boston, he’s spent the past 14 years at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, striving for better ways to teach a diverse group of students in International Baccalaureate (IB) Physics, AP Computer Science, and physical science. The heart of his work is examining perseverance, ownership and belonging in the science classroom using an Improvement Science approach which he learned from the Knowles-sponsored Project ASCENT.
He credits Knowles with the training and support needed for a long term career in the classroom, which still brings him satisfaction on a daily basis!