I’m Debby Jacobson and I teach 8th grade science and Honors Biology at Meadowdale Middle School. Dr. Sagan is one of my heroes. He is probably best remembered not for his scientific discoveries of which there were many. But he is known as the scientist who brought astronomy to the average American. I think of Dr. Sagan often as my own students explore astronomy and I hope that in each one of them, they learn to value scientific curiosity.
I have been teaching for ten years now. Before that I worked as a researcher in infectious disease. We worked with viruses, mostly herpes and hepatitis; we also started working on a new disease called HIV. I volunteered in my children’s cooperative elementary school and decided I really loved teaching science to students, so I got my teaching credentials and here I am! As an undergraduate, I went to Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma; I received a B.S. in biology and then went to the University of Washington and received a B.S. in laboratory medicine. I got my teaching certificate from Antioch University and received a Masters degree there as well.
One thing that is very important to me is to help students learn what science is really all about. To that end, I have been fortunate to receive grants that will allow this year’s group to do radio astronomy with the Deep Space Network in California and for the Honors Biology students to learn how to sequence DNA and then trace the frequency of a variation in a portion of chromosome 8. It should be an exciting and busy year! I hope that they will occasionally think of Dr. Sagan’s quote as they are doing this work!
When I’m not with students, I love to experience applied physics! My daughter and I are dedicated roller coaster enthusiasts- we’ve done some pretty wild things and look forward to one day doing a tandem jump out of an airplane!
Debbie Jacobson
425-431-4336