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Sebastian

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Noyce Scholar Profile

Sebastian Pugliese III

Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Chemistry; Paper Chemistry & Engineering.

Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Broadfield Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics; Grades 6-12.

Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Fifth year or post-baccalaureate Noyce scholar

Name of Noyce institution:
Alternative Careers in Teaching (act!) at U.W. Oshkosh and U.W. Fox Valley.

Current academic or teaching status:
Currently enrolled in act! program.

School and school district:
Student teach at Appleton West High School in Fall 2013.

Background:

In 2009, after eighteen years working for two Fortune 100 companies and a global law firm, I chose a path less traveled. I started my own law firm representing people seeking patents on their inventions. And I began representing people in need (e.g., people facing lawsuits by landlords; or foreclosures by banks). I also looked for new opportunities to teach.

I have always enjoyed teaching. I have taught: faith-formation classes to primary-grade, middle-school, and high-school students; project management and patent law training courses to fellow employees; two courses, Environment & Consumption and Probability & Statistics, to adult students enrolled at Lakeland College’s Kellett Center in Neenah, Wisconsin; and, in the last year, mathematics, science, social studies, and other courses to 5th-, 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students enrolled at St. Nicholas Catholic School in Freedom, Wisconsin (as a substitute teacher).

In August 2012 I enrolled in the Alternative Careers in Teaching (act!) program at U.W. Oshkosh / Fox Valley. I decided I wanted to teach full time because I enjoy teaching, and love learning.

Why do you want to teach:

I want to teach full time because I love: (1) learning; (2) being around others who are learning and, as a result, growing as human beings; (3) seeking, through respectful give-and-take discussions with others, to get at the truth of a matter; (4) motivating others to get excited about a subject; (5) making a positive impact on a person (e.g., on his or her understanding of the world and habits of being); and (6) making a complicated subject accessible to students, so that they can understand it, make it their own, and master it.

Describe a memorable teaching experience:

Recently a student told me of an experiment he was undertaking for an upcoming science fair. He wanted to answer this question: does dissolving one or more mints in water lower the temperature of the water? I thought this was an interesting question, and we and some nearby students talked about it. I asked whether the step of dissolving the mint required energy, or gave off energy. I then re-framed the question, and asked whether the step of dissolving the mint was exothermic–i.e., gave off energy–or . . . and another student chimed in, saying “endothermic.” And so we talked generally about reactions that required energy, or gave off energy. We then speculated on whether the step of dissolving a mint in water was exothermic or endothermic. We talked about whether the cooling sensation a person experiences when dissolving a mint in his or her mouth is due to an endothermic reaction, or some other factor. I think this little anecdote exemplifies one aspect of teaching: a moment, arising spontaneously, in which you and your students are thinking, exchanging views and, as a result, learning.

What does the Noyce program mean to you:

I am fortunate to have received a Noyce Scholarship because it has considerably eased the financial burden of making the transition towards becoming a full-time science teacher.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant Numbers DUE-2041597 and DUE-1548986. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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