 Dr. Ploense joined the Smith Science Department in 2004, after receiving her teaching credential from Arizona State University. Previous to teaching in the Mesa Public Schools, she pursued an academic research career in Environmental Plant Physiology.
Passionate about sharing her love of science, Dr. Ploense seeks to actively engage all students in the classroom. She believes that taught well, most students would agree that science is one of, if not the most, interesting, fun and exciting classes they take in school. Her guiding educational philosophy is that “learning science is a lot more about asking questions than getting answers”!
Concerned at the continuing disproportionately low number of females pursuing secondary and higher education in science and its related career fields, Dr. Ploense believes that you have to hook them young. “Research has shown that by age 13 children have formed hard and fast beliefs about the subjects at which they excel and those at which they fail. Lack of encouragement and self-confidence in their academic ability seem to be two of the major reasons young women in particular withdraw from science before even entering high school”.
Naturally, Dr. Ploense was thrilled when Smith was selected to participate, and she was invited to facilitate and mentor students in, an after-school program funded by the National Science Foundation and managed by Arizona State University. “Learning Through Engineering Design and Practice: Using Our Human Capital for an Equitable Future” is a two year extracurricular project designed to inspire and engage female and minority youth traditionally under-represented in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
In addition to teaching in the Mesa Public Schools, Dr. Ploense is also an adjunct faculty member at Central Arizona College where she teaches various freshman and sophomore biology and chemistry courses. When temperature and time allow, she enjoys hiking the Sonoran Desert identifying unfamiliar native plant species.
For more information about Dr. Ploense’s teaching experience and educational & research background please click on the links below.
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