ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Rebecca Ross wants to help Virginia's science teachers do more with less.
High school science teachers need advice, equipment and training because they
don't have much money, said Ross, a nationally recognized biology teacher.
She hopes to help meet part of those needs in her new job as head of the outreach program of Virginia Tech's Fralin Biotechnology Center.
Ross, who most recently taught at Cave Spring High School in Roanoke County, will work with high school and college teachers to help improve biotechnology education in the state.
Biotechnology is the use of the data and techniques of engineering and technology for the study and solution of problems concerning organisms.
Ross, who grew up on a farm near Ferrum, said she'll miss the classroom, but she sees her role as an educator continuing, though in a different manner.
"I've taught both high school and college students," she said. "That gives me a perspective that will be very useful, and I know the types of things that teachers may need."
Her outreach efforts will include an annual statewide and regional biotechnology conference designed to help high school and college faculty keep informed on developments in the rapidly changing field.
A bequest by the late Horace Fralin, a Virginia Tech alumnus and proponent of the biotechnology effort on campus, has provided funds for many of the center's activities.
Ross will produce a quarterly newsletter for 1,600 high school and college teachers, conduct workshops for teachers across the state and seek grants to expand the center's outreach goals.
"The whole field of biotechnology and genetic engineering is so explosive that it's hard to keep up," she said. "That is the idea behind what I [will do]."
Ross said she will confer with teachers to determine what they need. A committee of 30 high school and college teachers has been named to come up with ideas to improve biotechnology education, she said.
Another part of the Fralin outreach effort is an equipment loan program. Teachers can check out trunks of equipment and supplies to use for two-week sessions on DNA in their classrooms.
The trunks provide teachers with access to $6,000 worth of equipment and supplies. Last year, 17 schools used the equipment, but Ross expects that number to increase to 40 or more this year.
Ross isn't entirely new to the job. She has set up teacher workshops and conferences for the center since 1994.
"I've been working with the Fralin Center for three years part time, and I helped set up the first loaner trunks," she said.
The National Association of Biology Teachers presented Ross its 1995 "Outstanding Biology Teacher Award" for Virginia. She also won the Virginia Association of Science Teachers 1991 "Outstanding Biology Teacher Award", and the 1993 national Tandy award as one of the outstanding science teachers in the United States.
Ross, who holds a doctorate in biology and science education from Virginia Tech, has been a resource teacher in Virginia for the Human Genome Project, a national research program on genes.
Ross said she has been interested in science since she was a farm girl. Walking in the woods and observing animals as a child sparked her curiosity about nature.
Roanoke County school officials have praised Ross' ability to combine academics with a down-to-earth teaching style that motivates students.
She taught anatomy, biology and physiology at Cave Spring High. She also headed the school's science department. She worked with students on scores of science fair projects and took several students to the International Science Fair.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LORA GORDON. Rebecca Ross is the director of educationalby CNBoutreach at the Fralin Biotechnology Center at Virginia Tech.
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