Awards Recognize "Innovations in Science Teaching"

  • 10/01/95
The Ohaus Corp. and the National Science Teachers Association recently announced the recipients of the Gustav Ohaus Awards for Innovations in Science Teaching.At the elementary level, the winners were: "Integrating Environmental Education in a SNAP!" - A teacher and students planned, designed and built a nature area outside their school building. Contact: Jim Olson, South Elementary School, Princeton, MN, (612) 389-6905. "Take-Home Science Kit" - Staff created a take-home science kit, complete with magnets, measuring apparatuses, rocks and minerals, microscope, calculators and more. Contact: Beverly Ellen Kingery, Van Elementary School, Van, WV, (304) 245-8811. At the middle-school level: "Chemistry and Physics (CAP) Corps" - Teacher guided 11 ninth-grade students as they conducted hands-on science activities with sixth graders from area elementary schools. Contact: Denise E. McCarthy, Ben Franklin Junior High, Fargo, ND, (701) 241-4731. "Animal Studies: A Team Approach" - Seventh-grade students worked in groups to closely examine live indigenous species of invertebrates and vertebrates without harming the animals. Contact: Sandra Jordan, Glen Meadow Middle School, Vernon, NJ, (201) 764-1700. At the high-school level: "Physics, Material Science and the Environment" - Students worked in "research and development" teams to design an environmentally safe composite material to be used as a consumer product. Contact: Arlene V. Cain, Sam Houston High School, Lake Charles, LA, (318) 855-3528. "Summer Science Research: High-Level Skills for Inner-City Students" - School developed a summer science research program that is held at Brooklyn College and the State University of New York's (SUNY) Brooklyn Health Science Center. Contact: Stanley Shapiro, Midwood High School, Brooklyn, NY, (718) 859-9200. And at the college level: "Playful Teaching; A Simple Teaching Strategy that Really Works" - Teacher uses music and hands-on activities to teach geology. Contact: Raymond Beisersdorfer, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH, (216) 742-1753. "Statewide Convention Tours Program" - Conventions promote and provide professional development and networking opportunities for science teachers in rural areas. Contact: John Sode, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, (701) 231-7103. For more details on any of the above projects, contact the winners directly. For more information on the 1996 Gustav Ohaus Awards, call NSTA's Lori Dean at (703) 243-7100.

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