End of Week Three?

My third week here at Kemin this summer is coming to a close. Time has gone by pretty quickly. Luckily, I am working here for ten weeks this summer, otherwise, I would be half way done already. Interestingly, I believe that I have already learned more here in three weeks then I did in my six weeks here last summer and I still have a lot of time left. I discussed this in my previous post, the fact that I have learned a lot about industrial chemistry methodology. I have continued learning about the practicality of chemistry methodology, and ways to carry the real world aspects into the classroom. Also, I had an interesting conversation with my supervisor and co-worker today about the idea of teachers spending time working in the business aspect of science. We discussed the idea that you as individual do not learn about science until you actually spend time working in science, whether it be working on research as a graduate assistant, or just working with a company. The theoretical concepts learned in school help, but the experiences are the most important. My supervisor even mentioned that it would be a good idea for science teachers to work in an area of science for an extended period of time, like a couple of years before teaching, so that teachers would become more knowledgeable. I agreed with him. This program that I am working with is great at doing that, and I am glad that I have been able to do this two summers now because I have learned that much more. Hopefully the IMSEP externship program grows into a program in which all teachers have the opportunity to work with companies every summer, because it truly is the best type of professional development.