Vernier/NSTA Award Winners Announced
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3/28/2007—Winners of the 2007 Vernier/National Science Teachers Association Technology Award were announced today. The award, sponsored by Vernier Software & Technology, went to seven educators, ranging from elementary school to higher education, who demonstrated innovation in data collection lessons and programs in the classroom.
Winners of the award each receive $1,000 in cash, $1,000 in Vernier products, and up to $1,000 toward expenses to attend the 2007 NSTA National Convention in St. Louis, MO, which is being held March 29 to April 1.
Winners in the K-12 categories included:
Category: Elementary
Educator: Wendy Smith
School: Klem Road South Elementary School, Webster, NY
Grade: 3
Project: "Investigating Seasonal Changes," in which Smith led students in a year-long project to investigate seasonal changes and the ecosystem in North Ponds Park. Students collected air, water, and soil temperatures around the park, as well as pH and dissolved oxygen levels in the ponds, and shared their work by creating ebooks, podcasts, and videos, available on the school's site.
Category: Middle School
Educator: Michael Breslow
School: Belhaven Middle School, Linwood, NJ
Grade: 7
Project: "Learning Physics at the Ballpark," in which Breslow took physical science students to a baseball stadium to study the physics of baseball pitches.
Category: Middle School
Educator: Thomas Eddy
School: Green Lake School District, Green Lake, WI
Grade: NA
Project: "Biotic Indexing and Stream Water Quality," in which students monitored streams in the Green Lake watershed. The students surveyed organisms and used a "biotic index" that related the presence of specific invertebrates to a quantitative measure of the streams' health. They also used data-collection probeware to measure temperature, pH, flow rate, conductivity, turbidity, and ion levels to determine water quality.
Category: High School
Educator: Timothy Couillard
School: James River High School, Midlothian, VA
Subject: Science
Project: "In the Footsteps of Galileo: The James River Pumpkin Drop," in which students create a container that can protect a pumpkin dropped from various heights (similar to an egg drop competition). Students also determined which data collection option would best track the motion of the pumpkin, choosing between a motion detector, video analysis, wireless sensors, and GPS.
Category: High School
Educator: Michael Liebl
School: Mount Michael Benedictine School in Elkhorn, NE
Subject: Physics, chemistry, and mathematics
Project: "A Flashlight Without Batteries! How does that Work?" in which students use a voltage probe connected to a resistor in series with a solenoid to explore Faraday's law of induction
Category: High School
Educator: Brent Osborn
School: North Central High School in Spokane, WA
Subject: Science
Project: "Investigating Pinecroft Natural Area Preserve,"in which students study local environmental issues, collaborating with college and government researchers and presenting their finding at the North Central Science Symposium, created by Osborn, along with the North Central High School Journal of Science.
Winners will be formally recognized during the NSTA convention's Awards Banquet.
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About the author: Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at [email protected].
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