Anthony N. Umelo, Ph.D.
Anacostia Senior High School
District of Columbia Public Schools
Washington, D.C. 20020
Dear National Science Foundation,
I wish to thank you for giving me this opportunity to be among a group of teachers to participate in the National Museum of Natural History's pioneer Research Experience for Teachers (RET). Efforts such as the RET program will improve science teaching and encourage students through their teachers to choose scientific fields. I am especially grateful for being assigned to the bird division to study systematics and evolution. Indeed, in the normal course of high school biology course, this area has been inordinately neglected.
The opportunity to participate in the RET program has opened many learning possibilities on the use of the regular compound microscope to identify species of birds from their feathers through the physical and microscopic structures. It is equally amazing to identify species of birds that are involved in bird/aircraft collisions (birdstrikes) through whole feather characters and their microscopic structures by using compound light microscopes! This is indeed applying old and improved laboratory practices to new use.
My study examined the variation in the microscopic feather characters of several orders of birds and focused on the differences among closely related species of gulls (Laridae) that are commonly involved in birdstrikes. The research project will enable me to transfer this summer experience to the classroom by finding new ways to implement "hands on" activity, inquiry-based learning modalities, and research-based methods.
My research experience at the NMNH is enhanced by the scientists in the bird
division, especially Dr. Carla Dove, research scientist, in the Division of
Birds, whose infectious enthusiasm for research and education has hooked me,
and hopefully my students to the study of birds. I am grateful to Mary Sangrey,
Supervisor of Research Experience for Teachers, John Hopkins University, American
Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Smithsonian Institution
for giving the research experience.
Sincerely,
Anthony Umelo, Ph.D.
Research Experience for Teachers, 2002