Awards Recognize "Innovations in Science Teaching"
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.