All the way from Virginia to Iowa! That’s how far high school teacher Denise Rogers has traveled to join the 2025 RegenPGC Research Experience for Teachers. Learn more about Denise and her extensive educational background.
I am a native of Orange County, California. I earned a BS in biology education (Claflin University). I taught in South Carolina for 5 years. I have also earned an MA in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in environmental science and administration (Virginia Commonwealth University) and an MS in pharmacy with a concentration in forensic science (University of Florida). I have over 30 years of experience teaching middle school science, high school biology, anatomy, forensic science, ecology, and high school summer remediation science classes. I have also served as an instructional specialist for math and science and taught science courses for students in grades 6 –12 in an alternative school setting. I also taught science at ChallengeU, an online graduation recovery program. During the spring of 2019, I earned an educational specialist degree in curriculum and instruction. Currently, I teach high school biology and AP environmental science for Richmond City Public Schools in Richmond, VA. The love that I have for science and children can be seen as I expose students to new and exciting concepts and share my travels and research experiences with everyone.
I applied to the RET program because… I have always enjoyed incorporating biotechnology into my lessons, and I am always looking for new and innovative approaches to teaching. I want to participate in this RET Program to open the possibilities to expose myself and my students to innovative ways to incorporate hands-on laboratory activities and add excitement to learning and teaching new concepts. In addition, I would like to develop useful curriculum materials based on the new concepts that I learn.
My expectations of the RET program are… to learn new procedures, techniques, and research material/practices while networking with other teachers and mentors.
How do you see this experience impacting your classroom? My students will benefit from having additional resources and ways to explore science topics that break the traditional direct instruction model. Opportunities such as this can help to maintain a student-centered learning environment and expose students to new, cutting-edge experiences and techniques.
