Professional Experiences and Plans
Self-reflective description of previous and current teaching/counseling/ leadership activities.
I’ve been a high school science teacher for four years, during which I had developed my own curricular materials and assessments, with an emphasis on performance-based assessment. I presented twice on performance-based assessment at the Wisconsin State Science Teaching organizations. While teaching, I was very involved with student extracurricular activities as a debate and cheer leading coach. I also judged statewide debate competitions. I served on the school’s school improvement committee, at the request of my principle, and lead the effort in a school-wide initiative for reading-and-writing across the curriculum. In 2003, after an anonymous nomination, I was selected by the state of Wisconsin to represent secondary science teacher during the state’s re-writing of its knowledge and concepts exams.
In addition to teaching at the high school level, I also taught undergraduate and graduate level science education courses at Marquette University and I supervised student teachers. During these teaching opportunities, I constructed my own syllabi, reading lists, and designed the online courses along with the readings. I had gotten very positive feedback on my teaching, including one student who told me that my course was like a really good book he did not want to put down. I also carefully collected student assignments and data to help Marquette in its accreditation process. I really loved teaching at the post-secondary level and would eagerly welcome the opportunity to do so again.
At UW-Madison, I had gotten some opportunities to engage in original research and scholarly writing and that background helped me jump into some of my own activities here at George Mason. In addition to my ongoing collaborations with Dr. Maxwell, I contributed to a special edition of the Cognitive Technology Journal in their special issues on “games for good” and I have written three entries in an upcoming encyclopedia on social media published by Sage. I am currently planning a research opportunity with Erin Peters in science education and have just received word that my colleague Trevor Owens received IRB approval for us to start doing some research on the Our Courts civics education games.
I also work full time developing educational video games and interactives for The JASON Project, a subsidiary of National Geographic. This opportunity provides me with leadership opportunities. I think of my leadership style as being one consistent with a knowledge economy. I am very aware of the diversified talents and skill sets of my team, ranging from the highly creative artists to the very technically oriented programmers. I see myself as being well versed in a range of these professions but not an expert in any single one, and I therefore rely heavily on the expertise and knowledge of my team.
The position also propels my inquiry. By being at the interface of game design/ creation and classroom implementation, I can clearly see a host of research and evaluation questions that are begging to be answered by the broader field, but that few people have the opportunity to examine at the depth that I do. My current career is incredibly useful in situating some of the real-life problems that emerge when trying to design educational technology products and solutions for contemporary classrooms.
B. List of competencies for which additional preparation is needed prior to beginning dissertation work.
Research and scholarly writing; course work in educational methods; continuing collaboration with George Mason Faculty.
C. Description of planned future professional activities
I feel as though I am relatively well rounded professionally and hope to continue to develop my competence as a researcher, writer, and presenter. In addition to my ongoing collaborations with Dr. Maxwell, I am currently planning a research opportunity with Erin Peters in science education and have just received word that my colleague Trevor Owens received IRB approval for us to start doing some research on the Our Courts civics education games. Finally, in the coming year I will be releasing two games on geology and a game dealing with space content.
D. List of significant professional products
Teaching experiences:
Marquette University: Secondary Science Education methods (3 semesters)
2 semesters of face-to-face teaching; 1 semester of online teaching
Marquette University: Secondary Science Education methods for graduates (2 semesters)
Sample Syllabus
Presenting at professional organizations
Software:
A resource management game that demonstrates the strengths and limitations of energy technologies.
Simulation game that probes concepts like trophic levels, food web, and competition where students design an invasive species and release it into an environment.
Simulation game that demonstrates the conversion of gravity to motion; potential and kinetic energy.
Puzzle-type game that demonstrates how energy transfers and transforms, and how this impacts efficiency.
An adventure game illustrating major learning objectives in middle-school ecology through the lens of authentic work of real scientists.
PUBLICATION:
Chmiel, M. (in press). Game Design Toward Scientific Literacy. Cognitive Technology Journal, 14(2).