Tim Fitzgibbon

Tim Fitzgibbon, Teacher, Henderson Inclusion School

Tim Fitzgibbon is a 9th grade physics teacher at Henderson Inclusion School in Boston, MA. After hearing about similar programs, he decided to participate because he wanted to kickstart his brain and learn some new techniques, skills, and facts. Fitzgibbon also felt that he was losing a lot of flexibility after teaching low-level physics for over a decade.

Summer 2019, Fitzgibbon worked in Professor Thomas Bifano’s lab. He worked alongside a few graduate students using a telocentric lens to image multiple cells concurrently and eliminate wasted pixels masked by the well plates. Throughout his time here, he hoped to get some ideas for implementing hands-on research. It was also important that he have increased patience with engineering tasks, so that he could allow future students to make mistakes in school, have time to reflect, and attempt another time.

One of the biggest challenges Fitzgibbon faces is that his students come from various ability levels, since he works at an inclusion school. Some feel as though science is too hard and they cannot do it before they step foot in the classroom. “We need to give them more opportunities to DO science and engineer solutions rather than sit and listen and try to regurgitate facts,” says Fitzgibbon.

Fitzgibbon also asks future participants to help out where they can. “When there is nothing to do, find someone and ask what you can do. Everyone is perfectly ok with you taking time to get things done. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere,” says Fitzgibbon.