"Paracelsus Goes to School" Teacher Education Workshops: A Six-Year Retrospective

Abstract

The Society of Toxicology (SOT) has demonstrated a strong commitment to K-12 science education through a number of initiatives. One of these is the development of "Paracelsus Goes to School" workshops for K-12 educators, named in honor of a founder of the discipline of toxicology. The Paracelsus workshop series has three major aims: to educate K-12 teachers about key principles, concepts and careers in the environmental health sciences field of toxicology; to provide K-12 teachers with content and classroom materials on toxicology and environmental health sciences subjects to help make basic sciences relevant to students' lives; and to establish links between SOT members mentors and K-12 educators. Paracelsus workshops have been offered annually since 1996 in conjunction with annual scientific meetings of the SOT. A total of 563 teachers have attended the six workshops held in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States Similar regional workshops have been offered by SOT regional affiliate chapters. This article discusses the motivation for developing the Paracelsus workshops, their implementation, and potential impact on K-12 science education.