Dr. Steve Getty joined BSCS as a Science Educator in November 2001. He works with a variety of BSCS projects in curriculum, research and evaluation, and professional development. As a curriculum developer, he has been a lead writer for the grades 9–11 program BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach and the Inquiry-based grade 8 curriculum. He has also been a lead writer on a number of other BSCS curriculum projects, including revisions of BSCS programs and curricular work with Los Angeles Public Schools and the Archdiocese of Chicago. His work in research includes two projects investigating literacy and science notebooks (grades 4, 5) in the Pikes Peak Region, and a cluster-randomized trial (CRT) of high school science programs in Florida and Washington. The latter is supported by the U.S. Department of Education. Steve has also been involved in an array of BSCS professional development efforts. This includes teaching with the BSCS Summer Science Institutes and collaborative work with teachers and districts around the country.
Currently, Steve is the Principal Investigator for Carbon Connections, a NASA-funded, high school program on the carbon cycle and climate science. This has led to other NASA- and NSF-supported collaborations where Steve is a Co-PI on work to develop curricula for student groups who are underrepresented in STEM fields. Those projects are based in Arizona, California, and Florida.
Prior to joining BSCS, Steve had a three-year teaching position as Visiting Professor of Geology with Colorado College. During this time, he directed senior thesis research projects and taught in the six-week Integrated Natural Sciences Summer Institute for Master of Arts in Teaching candidates. His courses have included mixes of classroom and field courses in Colorado, New Mexico, and the Bahamas. He has held research positions with Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of New Mexico. His areas of published research include the evolution of mountain belts (Appalachians, Alps, North American Cordillera), new methods for radiometric age dating (U-Th-Pb, Sm-Nd geochronology), and the application of isotopic tracers to Earth systems (e.g., coral, human bones, aerosols, and pollutants in lichens).
Steve has a B.S. in Geology from University of Notre Dame, a M.S. in Geological Sciences from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Brown University. His hobbies are bird watching, hiking, and mountain biking.
BSCS programs incorporate a conceptual framework that is clear, progressive and integrated with many pedagogical strategies. The concepts build in a way that students understand. The activities, investigations, and readings engage students in a way that allows them to "have fun" while learning, opening them up to the natural world around them.
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