UNC School of Education

Clinical Assistant Professor of Science Education

Coordinator of Carolina Online Lateral Entry and NC TEACH Programs

T 919.843.9844
F 919.843.2614
nicabot@email.unc.edu

201A Peabody Hall
CB 3500

After 12 years as an electrical engineer, Nick Cabot earned a master's degree in physics and began a 15-year career as a high school science and mathematics teacher in Seattle. In the summer of 1995, he participated in the first of three workshops on Modeling Instruction in High School Physics, an experience that changed his conceptions of teaching and learning. He became convinced that teaching and learning in science are fundamentally about building scientifically-aligned conceptual models of natural phenomena, and has subscribed to that position ever since. He was a semifinalist for the 2001 national Science Teacher of the Year, named by the National Science Teachers Association.

In 2001-2002, Cabot worked as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education, focusing on science teacher education reform. He returned to Seattle to become science department chair at his high school.

Inspired by his NSF experience, he began work on a Ph.D. degree in the College of Education at the University of Washington, with a concentration in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. In his dissertation, he studied the impact of Modeling Instruction on high school physics teachers. Specifically, he investigated some of the factors that affect the influence of professional development programs on changing teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and classroom practice.

Cabot's philosophy of teaching, especially in science, is that students learn science and science teachers learn to teach science by engaging in many of the same practices of professional scientists - observation, experimentation, model building and public debate. His professional experience includes consulting on elementary science curricula, working with middle school science teachers, piloting computer-based science curricula and serving as an associate member of the teacher advisory council to the National Academy of Sciences. But he says he is most proud of the work that the faculty of his high school science department did together to reform the curricula to help students think more like scientists.

• Modeling Instruction Program (Arizona State University)

• Ph.D. 2008 - University of Washington
• M.S. 1993 - University of Washington
• B.A. 1975 - University of California, San Diego

• Science Education
• Professional Development in Science Teaching
• Professional Community
• Distance Learning

• Physical Science

• Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, 2001-2002

• National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
• American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)

• Reviewer, The Science Teacher
• Associate member, Teacher Advisory Council, National Academy of Science, 2002-2008