Another effort I am planning harkens back to my days as a naval training analyst. Many people have seen the movie, “Top Gun.”¹ (The old one. I don’t know enough about the new one to comment.) There is an actual Top Gun command in the Navy (although that’s not its official name). It exists, among other reasons, to train the trainers. They accept the best aviators in the fleet, train them in up-to-date tactics, then send them back out to the squadrons to train others.

I would like to see a similar program for teachers. In a previous post, I mentioned that most public school K-12 teachers don’t have enough time for mentoring. Therefore, I plan on developing a summer enrichment program in which master science teachers—the ones that grab every students’ attention—mentor other teachers. At the same time, they will provide classes to students struggling with science.

A story about that command and movie

First, some additional background about being a naval analyst. I will never be in the same class as Christine Fox. By the time I got to the company that we both worked for, she was already a manager. She eventually became acting Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Assistant Director for Policy and Analysis at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

So why am I bringing this amazing woman into this, and what does she have to do with the Navy command the movie was based on? Well, the company we both worked for did not just hire analysts and sit them in a building near the Pentagon to do some analysis. Instead, many of us were assigned to U.S. Navy or Marine Corps commands. We relocated near those commands and embedded with them, providing direct analytic support.

Christine was assigned to the command associated with the Top Gun, and she was there while they were filming the movie. She is, in fact, the inspiration for Charlie, the Kelly McGillis character in the first movie.

My experience with train the trainer programs

I visited Top Gun to observe some exercises a few times during my long career as a naval analyst. However, I was embedded in a different Navy command and one for the Marine Corps, as well as performing a similar role in the West Virginia Department of Education.

All that to say, I know something of how train the trainer programs, like Top Gun, work. I think there is a place for them in K-12 education. Some districts have lead, mentor, or master teachers performing this role. However, I also know that almost all districts are strapped for cash, and can’t pay for all mentoring that teachers need to ensure good science education for all students.

Who would be involved?

So what would my academy look like? I envision a summer program that pays both the master teachers and the mentee teachers. My aim is to target students who have not shown an interest or ability in science. In addition, I would pitch it to parents as a fun way to improve their children’s science grades. For kids, the academy would be science like they have never seen it before.

Academy curriculum

The curriculum for the program will be as hands-on and as fun as possible. The venue maybe located within a particular county, either within the public schools or as part of a county recreation program. In that case, I will ensure that the curriculum matches that used by that county. In other words, if they adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the summer curriculum will match those standards. The master teachers, learning teachers, and students would all come from that county.

It is possible that I can find a venue where people come from many places, such as at a private summer camp. In that case, I will match the curriculum to the philosophy of the particular camp. It will still involve making it as hands-on and as fun as possible. The master teachers would be paid through nonprofit funds. Camp counselors that work with that teacher will be paid by the camp. Hopefully those counselors are considering a teaching profession (most counselors are late high school or college age.) More on the camp idea in a different blog post. As one camp director told me—he’s interested in talking but he has a camp to run—call him in October.

Paying for the academy

Ideally, student tuition would pay for teacher salaries for the summer, but that probably won’t happen. I would, of course, have a scholarship fund for students who could not afford the tuition, which should be relatively inexpensive. The idea is to teach science, and help teachers learn to teach science better—not to make money. Therefore, to make the academy happen, I will need to form my own non-profit and fundraise. New territory for me, but I believe the cause is worth it.

Next steps

So that’s my idea for providing more teachers with training to help them engage with all students. I will need to pilot this idea to see how it is working. The pilot data will help show if both teachers and students come away with a new appreciation for science learning.

¹The “Top Gun” copywrite is currently in dispute, but is certainly not available to anything Science is Elemental will be involved with. Hence the temporary change to “the academy” until I can find a new name. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/paramount-hit-with-top-gun-copyright-lawsuit-from-original-article-authors-heirs-1235159719/