(upbeat music) - Utah Science Teaching Association is a group of educators striving to improve science education in Utah.

And here to tell us more about professional development and scholarship opportunities, is Laura Cotter.

Hi Laura, thanks so much for being here.

Show people that T-shirt, "A Moment Of Science, Please."

That's very good.

So why don't you start by telling us about all the professional development opportunities you have for teachers.

- Yeah, so we have a wide range depending on what teachers need.

So we have an annual conference that we just had this past October, it's usually held in the fall.

We offer endorsement courses for teachers who wanna teach a new subject or an additional grade level, they need to go through a training program for that.

We also offer just fun professional development opportunities, like meet the scientists, where they can learn from scientists in Utah and the groundbreaking research that they're doing, or elementary book chats where they can learn about how they can integrate literacy in their science time in the elementary classroom.

- Oh, that's great.

And I know it's really good what you do because you help them stay up to date on science, constantly changing.

- Yes.

- Yes.

And then talk about how you recognize teachers in the state.

- Yeah.

So every year at our annual conference, we do awards that recognize teachers across the state, everything from rookie teachers from their first couple of years of teaching, to veterans who have really changed the landscape of education in Utah.

We recognize them from all across the state, all subject matters.

We also have a special award for a pre-service, or student teacher who is currently in school to get their teaching degree.

And along with that comes a scholarship for them.

- Okay, because you said teachers do a semester, how long do they teach?

- Yeah, semester of student- - Without being paid.

- A semester of student teaching, and it's unpaid, which means they either have to try and work part-time jobs on top of a full-time job, or they have to just live off of student loans during that time.

So our scholarship, which honors Richard Tolman, who is a fantastic educator in our state, helps one of these science student teachers to have a little bit less of that financial pressure during their student teaching.

- Okay, well great.

Well, you do wonderful work and thank you for being here.

- Thank you so much.

- And if you'd like to know more about the Utah Science Teaching Association, the scholarship and professional development opportunities, go to utsta.org, that's utsta.org.

I'm Mary Dickson, thanks for watching "Contact."

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