kahern@unlinfo.unl.edu (Kathy Ahern)

Kathy Ahern (kahern@unlinfo.unl.edu)
Wed, 15 May 1996 17:06:01 -0500

Hi! I'm Kathy Ahern and I'm a graduate student at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln preparing to do doctoral research and thesis over the
course of the next year. In what seems like another life, I was a physical
science/physics/ chemistry/math teacher for students in grades 7-12 in a
small rural Nebraska school, which my children ages 16, 15 and 13 still
attend. I also taught chemistry in a large suburban parochial school here
in Lincoln before becoming an adjunct faculty member/graduate student here
at UNL. My undergraduate degree was physics & math(Chadron State College,
1978), M.A. in Curriculum & Instruction, minor in biochemistry(UNL, 1994),
and I'm moving into the dissertation phase to earn a Ph.D in
Administration, Curriculum & Instruction by May of 1997.
Since signing on at UNL I've co-written/produced and co-presented
two interactive distance learning science curriculum development courses
broadcast via satellite TV for the SEER (Satellite Education &
Environmental Research) Program. These courses have had a thematic
environmental research focus, the first on radon, the second on water. I
have also worked for the Nebraska Math & Science Initiative in Model
Programs (curriculum development), and studied one case of a school-to-work
program for a case study under preparation at Brandeis University (Waltham,
MA). My areas of interest are science education & school reform;
multcultural & diversity issues in the science classroom; teacher change;
qualitative research methodologies (especially action research, case study
& grounded theory); distance learning; and computer technology uses in the
classroom.

Kathy
*****

Kathryn A. Ahern e-mail: kahern@unlinfo.unl.edu
SEER Water Project phone: 402-472-4162
N-160 George W. Beadle Research Center FAX: 402-472-7842
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0664

The Water Project is an interdisciplinary distance learning project of the
Satellite Education and Environmental Research (SEER) Program.