Mark Stepaniak: Teacher to PhD Candidate
October 2016
We spotlight high school biology teacher turned PhD candidate Mark Stepaniak. Mark volunteers with our BASIS and Be A Scientist programs and devotes his life to building up the next generation of scientists. We love Mark’s passion for educational equity. Enjoy reading Mark’s journey of science learning, teaching, and outreach.
Mark Stepaniak has dedicated his professional life to two passions: science and education. Mark taught high school biology and chemistry for three years in Western Illinois and is currently a 2nd year PhD student at UC Berkeley studying Molecular and Cell Biology. We’re excited to share Mark’s journey highlighting both science and education.
Mark’s science journey started at College of William & Mary, where he researched temperature tolerance in fruit flies as an undergrad. He specifically studied how fruit flies introduced in the United States compared to those in European countries.
After graduating from College of William & Mary, Mark needed a break from his own personal studying of science. He turned to a second passion of his—education. Mark got his Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado. With his new degree in hand, Mark moved to Western Illinois where he taught high school biology and chemistry. Mark taught a diverse group of students—from those who went on extravagant vacations to those who received free and reduced lunches at school. Mark said that this range of students in the achievement gap is what really motivates him to work hard. He believes that the discrepancy in science teaching contributes to the achievement gap and wants to reach high need students with science.
Along Mark’s journey has been one constant—his wife Molly. Mark and Molly met in high school and have been together ever since, getting married in 2012. Molly is a Speech Pathologist, expressing her passion for students in a different way. Mark and Molly moved to the Bay Area a year ago, when Mark began his PhD program at UC Berkeley and Molly found a new job.
With CRS, Mark co-leads a Bay Area Scientists in Schools (BASIS) team on variation in species titled “Spice of Life.” He loves how BASIS is “designed to help students who struggle in a traditional classroom setting” by bringing in hands-on science activities. Mark also volunteers with Be A Scientist, mentoring groups of 7th grade students through their own science experiments.
Mark believes that his experience as a high school teacher helped him to greatly sympathize with teachers. He says that “teachers have many responsibilities that make it difficult to develop dynamic hands-on lessons to inspire students.” Mark loves that he can now be the one to develop those lessons and help teachers inspire students to learn science.
In addition to his classroom volunteering, Mark attends seminars and discussions on science outreach. He is a member of the Coalition for Education & Outreach (CEO) and works tirelessly to make sure that his science teaching is of the highest quality. Mark has recently participated in workshops discussing implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into science outreach. NGSS integrates three dimensions into all levels of instruction: disciplinary core ideas, science & engineering practices, and cross-cutting concepts.
In his spare time, Mark enjoys hiking, film, and sports. Some of Mark’s favorite places to hike include Tilden Park, Redwood Regional Park, and Lassen National Park. His favorite movies are “Sunshine” and “Moon.” As a Midwestern transplant and a hockey player in his youth, he loves the Detroit Red Wings. We love Mark’s unique perspective as a scientist and a teacher and hope that Mark’s commitment to his dual passions have been as much of an encouragement to you as they’ve been to us.