Dr. Sharon (“Sherry”) Nichols is an Associate Professor of Science Education at The University of Alabama. Sherry received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and was certified to teach secondary Biology and Health Education. Her first teaching jobs, however, were not in a school setting. Sherry worked for a rural health care facility in Palatka, Florida where she was responsible for designing health education programs for Hispanic migrant workers, Vietnamese fern growers, and pregnant African American teens. After 3 years, she made a change to teach grades 5-6 for two years. Feeling a need to learn more about teaching, she pursued graduate studies at Florida State University (FSU) where she had the fortunate opportunity learn from Ken Tobin, Deborah Tippins and Penny Gilmer. As well, an exchange visit at Curtin University in Perth, Australia introduced her to many new ideas and colleagues. Sherry’s varied teaching and research experiences have fostered her ongoing interests to draw on social constructivist theory, feminist perspectives, narrative inquiry, and visual ethnography to explore issues in elementary science teacher preparation and community-based science education.