As part of her recent yearlong research project, R.C. Murphy Junior High School science teacher and New York State Master Teacher Dawn Nachtigall has been selected to speak at an international symposium sponsored by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching in San Antonio, Texas.

Over the past year, Ms. Nachtigall has been part of a National Science Foundation-funded joint research project that is working to develop classroom teachers into teacher leaders. Since 2010, this project has worked with 32 chemistry and physics teachers from high schools in and around Atlanta, Georgia. The participants complete over 100 hours of professional development each year in both classroom practice and leadership development. For her part, Ms. Nachtigall has been collecting and coding data from transcriptions of these professional development experiences in an effort to show that the teachers have truly internalized the techniques being taught and are becoming teacher leaders.  

The NARST is an international organization and one of the premier organizations in the field of science education. During the conference, Ms. Nachtigall will present to researchers and educators from around the world, many of whom are considered to be at the top in their field.