Jon Fiorella
SciTalk Host
Jon Fiorella (AE '96) has been teaching science for thirty years, the last
twenty-eight of which have been at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New
York. Jon has special interests in Bioethics and in Aeroallergen Research
(for which he has hosted previous SciTalks archived here). Along the way,
he has taken a sabbatical leave to research materials for teaching high
school bioethics as a Visiting Scholar at the Hastings Center. He says that
these experiences raised his teaching several levels, and as a proactive
educator he convinced his school board to approve a Bioethics course at his
high school, essentially the same course he has taught at Marymount College
in Tarrytown, New York for the past several years. He has also worked on
aeroallergen research with Dr. Kira Geraci since 1989 at a research station
certified by the AAAAI located at the Calder Ecology Center, which is run by
Fordham University in Westchester County, New York. This spring he brings to
us a colleague, Dr. Arthur Eisenkraft, who has earned a national reputation
as a science educator. Jon pointed out to the SciTalk coordinator that many
of our colleagues are uncomfortable applying for and competing in
science-based competitions whether for the teacher and/or the student. He
hopes that Dr. Eisenkraft will convince you all of the value of shared
learning and teamwork in developing a sense of the process of science and
raising critical thinking skills in our students. All too often we do not
get to think about thinking about science, and science competitions help to
validate that aspect of science process.
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