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Vol. 10, No. 2, Fall/Winter 1997
Interview with STC/MS Director Kitty Lou Smith: Putting Philosophy into
Practice
Kitty Lou Smith, Ed.D., director of the NSRC’s new Science and Technology Concepts for Middle Schools™
(STC/MS) Project, is enthusiastic about the job that lies before her. "It’s
an opportunity to put into practice my basic philosophy," she says. "My
classroom experience made me a strong advocate of inquiry-based science. Students learn
best by doing experiments, provided there is a clear structure for those
investigations."
An experienced middle school science teacher who most recently served as the science
department chairperson at West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia, Smith is
well prepared for the challenges that her new position presents. As department chair, she
oversaw personnel selection, class scheduling, textbook adoption, and
professional-development activities (not to mention coordination of her school’s
annual science fairs!). She has also developed curricula in physics and the life sciences
and taught college physics to teachers. In the meantime, she found time to further her own
education. She earned a master’s degree in 1981 and received her doctoral degree in
administration and supervision from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, in 1988.
One of Smith’s first responsibilities as head of the STC/MS™ Project was to
hire a curriculum development team. Interviewing for these positions increased her
awareness of the tremendous diversity in middle school science curricula. A variety of
textbooks are in use; however, many teachers are dissatisfied with the current texts and
therefore develop their own materials. The lack of high-quality science materials is also
reflected in students’ scores on standardized tests. "We’re not serving
middle school students as well as we could or should," she concludes.
What will be different about STC/MS? "Our research and development process,"
Smith replies. Developing the eight STC/MS units will entail brainstorming sessions with
scientists and science educators, trial teaching, revision, national field testing in
diverse classrooms, and independent evaluation. The cycle will take two years for each set
of four modules.
Another factor that will distinguish STC/MS is the quality of the development team. The
STC/MS staff comprises four experienced, multitalented science teachers, all of whom have
"lots of enthusiasm for teaching, for their subject, and for students."
Carol O’Donnell, formerly a research associate for the NSRC’s Science and
Technology for Children™ (STC) program, has, in Smith’s words, an
"intuitive sense" for what a developer does. David Marsland has strong
experience in writing inquiry-based science lessons and helping teachers apply that
approach in their classrooms. Henry Milne gained in-depth experience writing curricula and
working with teachers in his work as an instructional resource teacher in the Montgomery
County Public Schools in Maryland. David Wetzel, a former naval officer and middle school
teacher, has expertise in the technological applications of science principles. He is a
doctoral candidate in science education at George Mason University.
When complete, STC/MS will include eight student modules and a variety of materials to
assist teachers. Work on the first four units, tentatively titled Human Body Systems,
Catastrophic Events, Properties of Matter, and Machines and Inventions,
is under way. Trial teaching is scheduled for the spring.
For Smith and her staff, the moment to put philosophy into practice has arrived. The
results are bound to be rewarding.
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